6stringed
by NaytchX
Summary: Tyler and Erika are both young pilots in the UED air corps. Watch how their lives change drastically when a force of hellish creatures violate UED space. Can Tyler's love for a girl hold out through the conflict? Laguage and sexual references. Pls Review
1. Chapter 1

Greetin's and salutations fanfic readers! As you may know, I've been planning this story since quite a while. However, there's been much delay due to events IRL that have deterred me from giving 100 effort on this story. To make it easier for me to write this I've changed certain aspects of the story. Let's just say if everything went according to plan, this story would be General, Action/Adventure fic instead of General, Romance ;-)

Disclaimer: The proper nouns (and common, I s'pose) that have been thought up by Blizzard is Blizzard's property. Names, plot, and especially main char names are mine! Iz'zat it? Yep, think so - Gets zapped by Zeus OW! Oh, yeah I don't own anything that comes from ancient Greek mythology, k Zeus? _Okay._ W00TAGE!

Chapter 1: An age old story

Sixteen-year-old Tyler Munroe stood in the back of the Holopic theatre. He was standing there in glowing appearance as he wore his full-dress uniform with its sparkling airman wings pinned to his chest. He had just come from his graduation from the Flight Academy, top of his class and had the reputation of holding the record-breaking 500 kills in the combat simulator.

He knew he was too young to join the Air corps, first signing up at the age of thirteen. His sister was even more iffy at the age of eleven. They had joined because of poverty, being orphaned when they were infants. But, they weren't only downcast because they had no parents; on the contrary it was directly because of their parents. You see, they were not human. Their appearance and hereditary genes were identical to humans, but the people of Earth had another name for their kind; terrans.

Tyler and his sister, Erika were found onboard a merchant freighter on the fringes of Directorate space, given to an orphanage on a small planet called Vraxia that quickly closed down after their arrival and forced a six-year old Tyler to fend for the two of them himself. He pulled it off, working small-time when he grew older, begging when still young. However, eventually Vraxian Government bettered the planet's economical state; low-end jobs went down as major corporations grew.

Erika had been willing to offer herself as a prostitute when their funds grew low. Tyler rejected the idea up front. Soon she managed to come up with another, smarter suggestion; to join the armed forces. Tyler had been taken aback, but soon saw the logic. Soldiers were given three full meals (provided they behaved properly) and were given clean shelter – what did they call it? Ah, yes; _quarters_.

They decided against joining the marines, the recruiting officer would never accept them at such a young age anyway. To join the Stellar Navy they would need an acute knowledge of science and math, to which neither of them possessed with their education limited to the local library. They decided to join the Air corps, perhaps as dropship pilots. However, Tyler grew a natural talent at piloting and was soon transferred to the Fighter corps. Erika had been an average pilot throughout, only managing to show her talent when she and Tyler had paired up as wingmen. Because of that they earned themselves their callsigns; Aries and Eris, the mythological Greek gods of destruction. They too were brother and sister where Aries could stand alone in many of the myths while Eris was rarely mentioned when not accompanied by her brother. The names suited them. They were naturally bonded those two, due to their experience on Vraxian streets. No other siblings could be as close as them.

But back in the Holopic theatre Tyler could not remember this. Indeed he could not think at all. He was not sure if he was even breathing! You see, Tyler was lost in a world of paradise, his body rigid – or was it slack? Bah, he couldn't feel a thing! You see Tyler was sealed in something ever so wonderful to a sixteen-year-old boy; a kiss.

His sweetheart, Jia, was in his arms and was wrapping herself around his lips. It was bliss, being able to feel the texture of her perfect teeth, her soft tongue, and her smooth saliva. This was his second kiss he had received in his lifetime. His first had been given to him thirty seconds ago, until the young couple parted for a moment to blush intensely before sealing themselves once more in the embrace of the lips. Now they were kissing frantically, their tongues exploring each others mouths and Tyler's arms rested on Jia's hips while Jia's grasped Tyler's shoulders. To Tyler's regret they parted and Tyler remembered the strange concept of fillings one's lungs with oxygen. Jia looked down self-consciously, her snowy-white skin glowing red with embarrassment. Jia was always shy and silent, Tyler adored her for that. She looked so cute at that moment so that Tyler laid his hand on her cheek to bring her gaze to meet his. She smiled nervously at him and Tyler wanted to say something affectionate, but alas his power of speech had not returned as quickly as his breathing.

Instead he gazed into her beautiful eyes. Tyler had once thought that 'beautiful eyes' was a lie, nothing more than an invention from holopic directors wanting to give their film dramatic dialogue. But, her eyes were truly beautiful. Brown, wide almond-shaped, with eyebrows arched high above them, contrasting to the traditional shape of eyes her race bore. She was from Eastern Earth, once known as Asia, specifically Korea. The rest of her looked as a Korean should look; snowy-white skin, a face that thinned out towards the chin, a small straight nose with a thin mouth that would easily form dimples on her smooth face when she would move it. She was thin, and her body was still straight, having not born the curves it deserved while still at a young age. Her reddish-brown hair was ever so skillfully tied with her own hands to a small pin that formed her hair into a feather like shape at the back of her head, while at the front her hair would fall so gracefully over her forehead from the center, parting off to the sides. Tyler loved this girl with all his heart, even if he didn't know it himself – Tyler also believed that teenage love was made up by holopic directors.

Tyler first saw Meng-Jia Tsong while walking from the Flight Academy to lunch at Denzer's Diner on a lunch period. Jia was standing in the front courtyard of her high-school, chatting with her friends in their language which Tyler didn't understand. Tyler gathered up courage to talk to Jia the next week, helped by a pep-talk from Erika. Jia was very, very kind, in Tyler's opinion, to allow herself to be seen talking to this terran flight cadet. Jia only had a handful of Korean friends (which is a prime example at her shyness) at her school which was populated mostly by Westerners. Tyler himself was obviously not a westerner when talked to. He bore an accent different from the rest; they had called it a _British_ accent. What 'British' was, Tyler didn't know.

After a month of being friends with Jia, Tyler had decided time was ripe. It was Jia's birthday when Tyler set his plan into action. It took a lot of courage to approach Jia in her school at a free period with his heart beating faster than a three barreled rail-gun fired out slugs. In front of everyone and out of the wild blue he had popped his confetti popper which brought everyone's head around to see what the commotion was. Jia shrieked in surprise at the pop and was even more delighted when Tyler gave Jia a huge stuffed dog which she loved so much she forgot her shyness and hugged it so adorably. Such a wonderful surprise Tyler had given her; no one knew it was Jia's birthday, she told no one, a prime example of her shyness. Tyler had found out on his own by pure luck. Her eyes glowed at him, Tyler would never forget that spark in her eyes at that moment. But, it was the note which stupefied her. The note was attached to the dog's collar, on it was a poem written by Tyler in Korean characters. A poem which announced that Tyler's action was more than a pleasant surprise when a friend wanted to wish another friend a memorable happy birthday, it announced Tyler's interest in her and Jia's attitude towards him changed drastically over the next few months.

Asians are a proud race and Jia was naturally shy – not a very good mixture in Tyler's situation. Her instinct – possibly even her parents were not comfortable with Jia going out with someone who was not Korean, much less someone who was not human. From then on Tyler tried desperately, awkwardly casting a smile towards her when he would pass the school campus, the odd chocolates sent by mail to her condominium. But, she would not have any of Tyler Munroe for the next few months. Her eyes would cast remorselessly in the opposite direction of him whenever he would be in the same vicinity, the beating of a tactful retreat into the woman's bathroom when Tyler would try to talk to her. But it eventually paid off. His casual guitar performance in front of his fellow cadets while sitting on top of the front fountain while interested bodies would drift over to the aloof musician while busier bodies would simply push through the crowd into the Academy's front doors. He would play every Tuesday since he was granted a two hour free time on that day. Fate had placed Jia right in front of the Academy on one faithful Tuesday. In the middle of a rather lively song which involved lot's of guitar playing and simple lyrics, Jia's eyes had been naturally drawn to the source of the music. It was another stroke of faith that his eyes should look up to the exact point where the unexpected face of Jia was there watching him. She naturally looked away immediately and blushed because of her shyness.

But she was trapped now, she had been caught looking at him, in the middle of _his_ gang; the Flight Academy. She was pushed into the small crowd by a small brown-haired girl who apparently was in great haste to join the audience (Unknown to Jia that the girl was actually Erika), escape made impossible she decided to keep her gaze low until she could leave. However, Tyler's knowledge of Jia's presence had him change the attitude at the blink of an eye. The very next song was the most romantic song Tyler knew. He played his old-fashioned solid black electric guitar into an instrument of love. She couldn't keep her gaze down any longer; the song had moved her inside. Tyler didn't leave it at that, he threw caution into the wind at the last verse. With his mind working frantically for the words of the next sentence of the song he sang the last verse slowly…in Korean! The audience that was unaware of Jia's presence was definitely aware of it now. She melted for him then, that boy, and Tyler knew it.

Another year of wonderful dates and laughs with Jia had occurred. She had accepted him as an equal at last and now she was not afraid to be seen in public laughing and joking with him. Her parents were still wary of Tyler but a few months of seeing Jia so happy changed their mind. They could treat him as an equal as well, inviting him for dinner on the weekends and letting him sit on the same couch as them when they would watch television on the evenings. Now they had come from a celebration at the day of Tyler's graduation and ending climatically at the small corner in the Holopic theatre. As these memories filled Tyler's head again his voice returned to him and evidently so did Jia's.

"No Sa – " she blurted out and changed tack at the speed of light "Sa – ow – und coming from the lobby anymore." She finished with her cheeks glowing red again.

She had meant to say 'No sarang hae' which translated directly into 'I love you'. It had, evidently, been the only thing on her mind at the time and apparently the abrupt return of her voice forced to blurt out the words before she could stop herself. Tyler couldn't let the girl he loved hang like that.

"I love you too." He said moving his face closer to hers so she could see the honesty in his eyes. She looked up to him, it looked as if she were on the verge of tears. She launched herself into his arms and embraced him. Upon doing so she felt a stiff bulge press against her when her body pressed against his. She deduced it was Tyler's erect manhood. She looked to his face with a open mouth, half smiling and it was Tyler's turn to blush. He had never actually been sexually stimulated by her, at least not like the countless female celebrities aroused him. It was a mark of a different feeling towards her that Tyler knew. It meant he was genuinely attracted to Jia herself, not her body and this was the first time his sexual instincts bubbled up inside him because of Jia.

Jia, being the ever so considerate girl that she was, smiled warmly at Tyler indicating that she didn't mind. She kissed Tyler again, and they continued kissing until late into the night. Tyler finally dropped Jia off at her condo, with one final goodnight smack on the lips she dashed into her room, possibly to hug her pillow or to scribble madly upon her diary. Whichever it was, she left a broadly grinning Tyler standing in the elevator and Tyler maintained that grin all the way back to his quarters and snuck silently into the lower bunk where Erika was already sleeping soundly on the top bunk.

* * *

Well, that's the first chapter up and running. Feel free to review, heck if you think my story sux, by all means flame me. But, please be fair.Oh, yeah, Chapter two up probably this weekend I promise some starcraft-ish stuff there.

-NaytchX


	2. Chapter 2

Alrighty! Here it is: some starcrafty action at last! I'm still fretting about events IRL so this story keeps my mind off things a bit.

Disclaimer: all OC names are mine, Blizzard stuff is not mine.

Chapter 2: Tough First Impressions

1st Lieutenant Tyler Munroesquinted through his flight helmet. His flight helmet was a very powerful tool. It displayed all important information common to all aircraft in its visor. Airspeed, Altitude (If in the vicinity of a planet), and most importantly it would mark the position of all electronic craft within a range of 2000 kilometers. The white label of Captain Sally Porter and Major Ken Lambert were prominent in his 10 o clock position. Whoever thought up the function of showing labels was a genius. Below the sleek figure of the Major's Gold and Blue wraith were the words:

_Spirit 5_

_532mph_

0.0023mi

…Very useful indeed.

The flight of wraiths banked their wings to port for a moment to change their course back around to the starboard side of the _DBC Tamerlane_. Tyler turned his head to scan the 'horizon' off his starboard wing. As he did so he caught sight of Jia's picture, which was clipped below his left MDI. He sighed and only after that did he make sure his intercom had not been transmitting.

His mind inevitably trekked back to his life 3 months before this moment. Where he had just received news that he was being assigned to the _Tamerlane_, for some reason only God knew. There was no conflict in the Directorate! The nearest rebel cartel was on the other side of Earth, which was already a good 25 sectors away from Vraxia.

It was his own fault…he reminded himself, he knew this was inevitable when he and Erika had signed their recruitment papers. He knew that soldiers get shipped off to anywhere at any time, whether there was a war or not. But, why the heck must he be assigned a mere four days after being officially _on_ with Jia?

He smiled. He couldn't help it, every memory of Jia was a good one…so unlike the early days of trying to get to her, the days when it would hurt so much to remember the way she would refuse to make eye contact with him. It would hurt him so much to remember how the most beautiful eyes in the universe would deny him the simple satisfaction of acknowledging his presence.

Now, it was all smiles, laughs and silent moments under the moonlight when he thought of her. So was this love? Tyler thought so. Bah, he should stop missing her like this. He was still two weeks away from losing communications transmissions with Vraxia. In three weeks time the only planet that would be able to communicate with them would be Earth. Earth was the only Directorate planet with a enhanced comm. dish. It would take ten years to construct such a dish on Vraxia, probably another five hundred years for the Directorate to find the need to build one on Vraxia. But, two weeks more of being able to talk to her was enough. The four months of radio silence would pass fast enough, and then the _Tamerlane_ would begin her homeward voyage from her patrol.

Tyler utilized his sacred practice of listening to the hum of the thrusters to pass the time. The only thing Tyler loved as much as Jia was flying. The hum of the engines were relaxing to him, it was excellent when he wanted time to pass quickly on these four hour patrols. The practice was a bit _too_ effective – for he woke up from the hypnotism two hours later in what he thought was five minutes.

"Spirit Five, planetary body, two o clock." Crackled Tyler's intercom, and simultaneously the words _Spirit Six_ appeared in the upper left of his helmet's visor – Another useful function of the Flight helmet.

"Copy… Roger, I have 'vizz… It's not showing up on the scanners, though." Said Spirit Five – again indicated by the words appearing in Tyler's visor.

The flight of wraiths paused for a moment, waiting for Spirit Five (flight lead) to make a call.

"_Tamerlane_, this is Spirit-Flight-Two. We have in sight a planetary body…only it's not spiking on our sensors…grid five-five-two-oh-point-five-three. Over." Said Spirit Five.

"Spirit-Flight-Two, our maps aren't showing any planetary body on said grid…please confirm, grid five-five-two-oh-point-five-three." Said the flight coordinator of the _Tamerlane,_ after a moment.

"_Tamerlane_, those are the correct grid numbers."

"…Spirit-Flight-Two… proceed to investigate." So that was it. No explanations, or extensions, just 'proceed to investigate'. Ah, the military is so straightforward; Tyler could learn to like it here.

The four gold-blue wraiths' thrusters glowed white hot as thousands of pounds of thrust rocketed them forward, instantaneously reaching 1500mph from cruise speed. The pilots closed into the mass of unknown spherical matter silently. As they neared ten thousand kilometers, the sphere grew in detail. It looked like a normal G-class planet. The surface seemed to be scarred and lumpy, perhaps it was volcanic. Perhaps it was in the prehistoric stages of its life…hmm; perhaps Tyler was witnessing the place where the amino acids of the next dominators of the galaxy would evolve from.

But then Tyler's eagle eyes kicked in… _What was that? Did something just move in there? _

_Bah! Stay bloodey focused, man!_

"Flight lead, I think I saw some movement around there for a 'sec." said Tyler, with his ring finger pressed on the 'transmit' button.

"Roger that. Spirit Seven and Nine…take the port side, will 'ya? Eyes open, everyone." replied Spirit Five.

"Copy."

Tyler moved his wraith to circle around through the left side of the planet, with Erika following close behind him. His eyes squinted to catch anything unusual. There it was again! That was it, no more time for bullshit.

"Flight lead, there is definitely movement in there!" he said

"Roger, we see it too. Orbit at five thousand kilometers, the _Tamerlane _should get here in a few."

Tyler looked behind him, and his visor projected a view behind him, making his the solid body of his wraith seem transparent through his cockpit, enabling him to have an unobstructed view of his eight to four o clock quarters. He could see the outline of the hammerhead style front quarter of the _Tamerlane_ now. She would probably arrive in about two minutes. The 'planet' began to shake. Was it going to implode?

No, it was…. disintegrating.

_What the bloodey hell?_

"Spirit Seven, rejoi – "said Spirit Five

"Spirit Five?" asked Tyler…silence followed.

God, something was wrong. But, Tyler didn't know nor care, this was action. Every bit of him said so. He turned his wraith to face the _Tamerlane_ and gunned the throttle.

"_Tamerlane, _this is Spirit-Flight-Two. That's not a planet! Spirit Five and Six are probably gone! Request support." Said Tyler as he checked to make sure Erika was okay.

"There are _things_ chasing us!" said Erika in distress.

"Spirit Seven, we're scrambling fighters now. Continue on your course." Said the _Tamerlane_ officer.

Tyler kept his nose pointed at the _Tamerlane_. He didn't know what the hell that planet was or what the hell took out his flight leader. All he knew was whatever they were would could be shot and killed…and the huge 500mm autolasers of the _Tamerlane_ looked like just the instrument for the job. Already he saw the hangar doors on the 'neck' of the _Tamerlane_ open up and wraiths come buzzing out of them.

"Spirit Seven, report." Said his intercom, he looked up to read who had transmitted: Spirit One.

"Spirit Five and Six are possibly down… bandits don't spike sensors and they're probably on our six." He said.

"Roger, swing around and engage!" said Spirit One.

_Jesus Christ! The Colonel has gone mad!_

But an order was an order. Tyler swung around on a dime using the zero-g of space as a combat pilot should. He gunned the throttle once more. Something was wrong. His visor should be drawing red boxes around any unknown craft in his view, but there was none.

Then it appeared out of nowhere. A green ball that left a trail of gas in its wake was heading straight for him. He jinked and dodged it easily. The absence of an explosion behind him reassured him that Erika had done the same. But where had this come from? Were they cloaked?

He fired a burst from his wingtip mounted railguns. The muzzle flash gave him a small illumination around him and then he saw them. There were thousands of them! That 'planet' must have been these hostiles all along. They must have been clumped together doing…_something_. They could have easily been mistaken for a planet, but Tyler hated himself for not noticing the difference between a horde of angry unknown hostiles and a planet.

They were coming at him like a sledge-hammer. Before he could tap his 'transmit' button, Erika had read his mind and took position directly at his six, even without the instruction he had meant to give. More green balls were coming towards him, but only some were aimed directly at him. The main body of wraiths must be a short distance behind him. Tyler's mind formed his plan immediately. For some reason the bandits were not registering any scanner signal, thus making his missiles useless because they needed a signal to lock on to and track. But this made his job easier. He primed his railguns and aimed manually with his fixed gunsight and pushed down on with his thumb on the trigger.

They were so tightly packed it was impossible to miss. He and Erika surged passed the balls that were directed at them. All the while the yellow tracers of their slugs were ripping into random craft that were in their path. He was inside the horde now. He dare not turn and blow his speed; he must exit the horde from the other side and come around once the furball ensued. He kept his trigger depressed as he danced his wraith around possible collisions. God, when would this stream of bandits end?

The crackle of radio traffic along his 'range' comm. channel told him that the furball had ensued. But with this seemingly never-ending stream of bandits he wondered how the mere fifteen squadrons of wraiths could win. At last his view cleared of orange bandits and was filled with peaceful black space again. He checked his ammo-counter; two thousand rounds left. He looked behind him. Sure enough there was the multicolored furball of green balls and red and yellow tracers dancing around as the main body of wraiths dashed through the horde as he did. But the bandits were extremely maneuverable. He saw them turn on a dime to pursue the wraiths and they didn't even seem to lose any speed in the process.

As he turned to join the furball, he saw that five of the bandits had pursued him through the gale of lasers and landed on his six. Again, Erika telepathically read his thoughts and could be seen coming around behind the five bandits on Tyler's six. Tyler jinked to give Erika a better shot. He could count on Erika to clear his six; these enemies which were remarkably maneuverable were also remarkably slow and they were losing ground on him by the second. At that observation, Tyler knew that he had to play with Energy tactics to win this fight.

As he dodged the green balls behind him, he took random shots at anything orange that got in his way. It was difficult to spot them in the blackness of space, but with all the glowing of fireballs and laser bolts it was much easier. He looked behind and saw Erika's shot land true on one of the craft and at the same time he saw the four remaining spin around on their heels to come head-on with Erika.

Tyler spun around as fast as he could. Erika had read his mind again and blazed through the four of them without sacrificing any speed to turn. They came around again, but were taken aback by the sight of Tyler's wraith already nose-on with them and waiting to receive them. His guns tore through two of them as he caught them unprepared. As he avoided the debris, two other wraiths threatened to collide and he was forced to bump into some debris. It splattered on his canopy. Before the electronic cleaner could wipe it off to clear his view, he managed to distinguish what they were; guts.

They were squirming, pulsing, and oozing insides of an organism. Tyler's stomach retched at the sight. As he fought it down, he realized that this was why they were not spiking sensors or why they were so maneuverable. They were living organisms. They could easily outfly any machine and they would definitely not register any scanner signal – bioscanners, probably, but the wraiths didn't have such scanners. Tyler shook himself and turned to rejoin Erika who was jinking away from two of the creatures. As he zoomed past the engagements of other wraiths, he noticed that very few of them had the advantage. They all had _something_ chasing them, be it five creatures or twenty green balls.

The _Tamerlane_ finally closed within range of the furball. Her laser cannons tore into the individual creatures with computer-like aim. The creatures, in all their numerical advantage, changed tack and sent the hull of the _Tamerlane_ rattling as their green balls peppered the hull. Tyler heard the order of RTB come clearly through his intercom in the midst of all the traffic of yells of 'splash one!' or 'clear my fucking six!'. Dozens of wraiths instantly bolted to the waiting hangar doors of the _Tamerlane_. But Tyler must stick with his wingman in need.

Soon the only squadrons that had unofficially volunteered to cover the other's retreat were Mojo squad, Thunder squad, and Spirit squad. The squadrons clumped with their own kind and fought a leap-frog retreat back to the _Tamerlane_. They would gun their throttles towards the _Tamerlane_ and the pilots up front would spin around to scatter the bandits that would chase their fellows before shooting back towards the _Tamerlane_ and then the pilots that were now up front would spin around to cover the formers' tail. The Mojos were not faring well; the creatures had special interest in them. But it was not Thunder squad's, nor Spirit squad's responsibility to cover them. If Mojo One could not keep his squadron organized, it was his own fault. Spirit One kept the remaining Spirit pilots together well enough and got them a good distance into the cover of _Tamerlane's_ guns.

As the squadrons who had made a dash for the _Tamerlane_ first were making emergency landing through the hangar doors, the creatures would pursue them savagely. Very few made it into the ship as they were disintegrated by the teams of creatures, despite the desperate cover being given to them by their squad-mates, and even though some were cloaked, the creatures would still fire blindly and their shots still held true. The few that made it in would quickly jump out of their wraith to seek cover along bulkheads as the creatures would swoop inside the hangar and wreak all kinds of havoc in there.

Marines swarmed in the hangars in response to the security breach. A hail of bullets would meet the creatures who moved clumsily about in the cramped hangars. The maintenance crews would blast their sidearm at the unwelcome intruders. But more creatures were swarming into the open hangar doors when they sensed the cruiser's weakspot. Captain Jacobs ordered the laser cannons to concentrate on keeping the creatures from entering the hangars, thus leaving the three stranded squadrons with even less cover than they already had.

Bah! Tyler knew this wasn't going to work. At this rate the _Tamerlane_ wouldn't be able to clear the hangars fast enough to receive any more wraiths before her hull went critical. She would most likely abandon the remaining wraiths to fend for themselves. Tyler looked down again, to the picture of Jia, who was still smiling at him. What was she doing now, at this moment while Tyler was fighting for his life? He glanced above the picture to the MDI. The green dots which represented the wraiths were dwindling down to the dozens, while the hundreds of creatures still remained invisible to his sensors. But it was time to focus now; he was in front of the squad, so it was his turn to come around and scatter their pursuers.

Before he could even bring his nose upwards, he was struck by a ball. His wraith tumbled around as the force of the impact made him spin. His aft-quarter was gone, replaced by flames which were entering his cockpit. Any second, his wraith would explode. He tugged at the lever placed above his head and his flight chair along with his transparent steel canopy. The ejection compartment didn't consist of his forward instruments, only the chair, the floor and the canopy; damaged instruments could be dangerous. At the last moment Tyler reached out towards Jia's picture. He grasped it and secured it in his fist right before he was blasted upwards, leaving his flaming wraith behind.

His flight helmet's HUD disappeared as it was disconnected from the wraith. He looked around at the dwindling figure of his wraith, and the _Tamerlane _which was still fighting for its life. He was at the front of the squad, so that the rest of the Spirits flew passed him at breakneck speed. The ejection compartment was not as pressurized as his wraith so Tyler felt his insides squirm at the roar of the passing wraiths. Something else hit his compartment with jolting force.

He was on the verge of falling unconscious. He was awfully low on oxygen and his mind was swirling with fatigue. He looked at the crumpled picture of Jia in his hand. She was still smiling at him, and her eyes were still glowing, even brighter than the blinding flash of the _Tamerlane's_ Yamato Cannon. He wondered again what she was doing right now. He wondered how she would react if he had died. But it didn't matter. At the age of sixteen, Tyler might very well lose his life right now, and he didn't want to die. But if Tyler was going to die, then no matter what, he would make sure the last thing he ever saw was Jia's face!

And then he passed out.

* * *

Please review fellas! Chapter 3 up next week or so: I have exams this week. 


	3. Chapter 3

Alright, let's see if I can get some reviews ;-)

Disclaimer: OC and plotmine. Blizzard stuffnot mine.

Chapter 3: With Five Simple Words

"Alright, we're full! Everyone, please strap your safety harnesses and stay calm!" said the sergeant, who could be seen through the closing doors of the bus. The bus' bottom glowed and slowly hovered a few feet above ground before zooming off towards the highway.

"Now that was the last bus…" said the Marine under his breath

"Ok, I want everyone to stay together while I get orders." He said turning to face the confused teens. One of them yelled out towards the marine.

"What about our families?" she asked over the bustle of the noise.

"They're being brought to the depot now. Please, just follow my instructions." He replied before jogging up to the APC parked nearby.

The bewildered teenagers stood still obediently. They whispered among themselves, as they always did when _anything_ happened. It was only inevitable they should do so now. The platoon of marines was watching over the group of them while one of them was talking over the APC's radio.

"Attention!" yelled the marine in the APC to the teens.

"We're going to be riding in the APC. I want no funny business. Take your valuables and get in silently and cooperatively." He instructed.

The teens were herded through the rear-end ramp by the marines. Soon they were all cramped and huddled inside. After a moment noises could be heard outside, indicating that the marines were riding on top. As the APC began to power up its anti-grav, the teens began chatting wildly again.

"Keep your voices down, there!" yelled the driver.

One of them, however, did not have her voice up at all throughout the commotion. Jia was sitting tightly packed between the mass of her schoolmates and the titanium plating of the APC. Her snowy-white skin was pale with stress. She sighed to herself silently. Her friends were on the last bus that left. They were probably riding along comfortably while she was suffocating in the cramped APC with these unknown seniors.

Jia remembered that Tyler had probably ridden on an APC like this before, perhaps even everyday. She wondered how he endured it. Jia hated cramped spaces. The only time she enjoyed being in a confined space was when Tyler had taken her on a flight in his wraith and the both of them squeezed together in the cockpit that was meant to seat only one person.

Her insides squirmed at the memory of Tyler. She's been forced to see her sweetheart leave her for some pointless patrol mission. And that God-forsaken mission had most probably gotten Tyler killed! She loathed the Directorate when she received the news of the attack on the _Tamerlane_. Her loved one was probably dead and for what?

She hated herself too. Why had she been so cruel to him after he had given her that birthday present? If she had accepted him, they could have had so much more time together. She loathed herself and her illusions that dictated terrans were disgusting creatures. What a lie! Tyler was the most loving and sensitive person in the universe. She wondered how Tyler could love someone as despicable as herself.

Jia's face remained expressionless all throughout her self-loathing. She had mastered the practice of nonchalance. She wondered why she was afraid of showing her feelings. Why did she insist on attitude of indifference when it was perfectly normal to be depressed, nervous, even exited at a time like this – and _especially_ in Jia's case? She was in the middle of a sector-wide evacuation, her loved one was probably dead, and she would be probably be dead in the next week as well. Yet she kept her face unreadable.

Tyler once said that he loved her for being like that. That was all bullshit in her opinion. She did not understand how Tyler could love her, but she could tell from his eyes that he was truthful. Eyes… Tyler had told her that she had the most beautiful eyes in the universe. She could never understand him, her eyes were nothing. They were brown and almond-shaped. Lots of people had brown, almond-shaped eyes. Yet Tyler said it with all honesty his heart could muster.

Doubts flooded Jia's mind and she still remained expressionless. The trait of nonchalance that Jia despised in herself was something that Tyler adored. She thought of her personality as despicable, afraid of emotion, and disgracefully cowardly and self-conscious. But Tyler looked upon her with admiration; her inner strength and self-control, despite any circumstances. Tyler knew she was much stronger than him. She could control herself with ability far beyond that of Tyler's and that's why his heart would go out to her.

The APC landed with a thud on the pavement in front of the main HQ on Vraxia. The students filed out and were lead through the lobby and told to keep an eye out for their family. One by one the body of students lessened as they joined their families. Jia was not going to find her parents here. They were going to stay behind while Jia left because her brother was a marine and her parents refused to abandon him as promptly as they refused Jia's offer to stay as well.

"Private, I must have a word with Ms. Tsong." Said a lieutenant, who approached the marine leading the group of students.

"Yes sir. Do we have a Ms…err – Ch-song with us?" he said, with difficulty pronouncing Jia's surname. Jia silently raised her hand and was taken under the arm of the lieutenant while the marine continued leading the students

"You'll be riding with the HQ staff, Ms. Tsong" he said, and she nodded.

"I understand that you were personally acquainted with an airman onboard the _Tamerlane_." He said, tactlessly attempting to provoke conversation.

"Yes." She said plainly.

"An unfortunate piece of business there; a lot of good men died there. You can count on the Directorate to get some payback on the bastards that killed them." He said. She might as well give in to idle talk for the mean time.

"Has there been any news of the _Tamerlane_?"

"Not much from the last reports. The _Clarkson _and the _Virtual_ have been aiding in getting her main propulsion back on line in the Plyrinth sector."

"What about the survivors?"

"They're getting shipped back for debriefing by dropship." He said. She looked at him, her eyes faltered a bit and a bit of concern showed on her face for a moment.

"No need to worry. I'm sure your friend is alright." He said, unconvincingly.

The lieutenant stopped to clear Jia's orders for transport. The clerk behind the desk ran the security papers through. After a while, the clerk approved them and told them that their transport was still being fueled.

"I'm under orders to see you off to the ship." He said, turning to Jia.

"Fueling takes a long bit of time; we might as well make ourselves comfortable." He said, leading the way to some waiting chairs. He sat down and Jia awkwardly took a seat beside him. Upon doing so he offered her coffee and a sandwich.

"Gam-sa-ham-nida." She said taking the food.

"Your welcome." He said, calling up his little knowledge of Korean dialect.

"Sorry." She said.

"No worries. It happens to me too. When I'm stressed, I usually blurt out things in German."

Jia ate the food while a welcome silence followed. When she finished the sandwich, she decided to at least keep the kind lieutenant from getting bored.

"So what do you do for the Directorate lieutenant?" she asked.

"Please, call me Vincent." He said. Jia smiled.

"Jia." She told him.

"Guten-tag, Jia." She smiled again.

"Anyway, I'm in the mechanized infantry. I'm XOA of a platoon of twenty five." He told her.

"Once Vraxia is evacuated, we're supposed to take garrison around Blomsville along with the 312th." He continued.

"But, what exactly are we fighting?" it was a question that had bubbled up in Jia since she received news of the attack on _Tamerlane_.

"High Command is hoping to find out from the reports of the survivors from the _Tamerlane_." Apparently Vincent wanted to know the answer as much as Jia did. Jia looked out towards the parked dropships visible through the glass of the HQ.

"So, who is this airman onboard the _Tamerlane_?" he asked. Jia's insides squirmed with grief again, but she still maintained her indifferent look.

"My boyfriend." She said plainly. Vincent was taken aback. Apparently he had not anticipated that this fifteen year old Korean could be intimate with a Directorate pilot who was usually in their late twenty's.

"I'm sorry."

"No worries." She said. Another awkward silence followed.

"Do you have a special someone, lieute – err, Vincent?" she asked

"Yes, actually; she's waiting for me back in Bremen IV." He said, welcoming the break of silence.

"That's nice….. Tell me… are you in love?" she asked at length. Vincent face flashed with surprise and Jia blushed.

"I'm sorry." She said again. Now she was being timid. She hated herself again. Timidity and fake indifference was all she was capable of and yet a man as good as Tyler still loved her. Why?

"Oh, no worries… I suppose… Yes, I suppose I do love her." He said.

"What's it like?" she asked him, this was another question bubbling up inside her. She needed to know what she felt for Tyler was the real thing. She was afraid of asking her parents, but this unknown lieutenant was safe enough to ask.

"Well…that's not an easy question to answer, Jia." He said. He realized that this girl must want to know what she must be feeling towards this unknown airman onboard the _Tamerlane._ Vincent groped for some way to indulge her request.

"Well…what do you feel about him?" said Vincent after Jia sighed.

Jia opened her mouth to answer, and then closed it again. She was being her cowardly self-conscious Jia again, not wanting to voice her feelings out loud. But then, she realized something; she wasn't afraid to voice her feelings out loud. It was different, this time she truly didn't know the answer. She never _really_ gave much thought on her views of Tyler to her. She recalled Tyler's wonderful company. She recalled how he comforted her. How he was so good in making her feel special. She thought of all this and yet, she still didn't know the answer to Vincent's question.

She knew this must mean that she didn't love him. She opened her mouth to speak again, and then closed it again. She didn't know what to say because she didn't love him. So that was the truth. Jia felt an extreme loathing towards herself. It was horrible; of all the honesty of Tyler's love towards her, she did not love him back. Then, even though her face still maintained its indifferent expression, a single tear streamed down her cheek.

"I'm no expert…." Said Vincent and Jia looked at him.

"….but I'd say you love him." He said.

More tears fell from Jia's face. Vincent offered her some tissue. She took it and buried herself inside it as Vincent rested his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She sobbed some more, all the worries of self-consciousness gone. When she looked up her eyes were puffy and red, and the tissue was dripping wet.

"He's a very lucky man." Said Vincent and Jia smiled at the compliment.

* * *

Jia shook hands with Vincent as she stood at the entrance ramp of the shuttle. She wished him good luck in his defense of Blomsville. He nodded and promised to give 'em hell if anything happened to 'the airman on the _Tamerlane_'. She thanked him for his hospitality again before she walked in to the shuttle.

The flight to inner Directorate space was uneventful. She was heading to Vega, along with the HQ staff. She wondered if her friends would be there, but then she remembered their families weregoing to Orion. She wondered if her brother would be okay. She wondered if Vraxia would be okay. She smiled as her mind inevitably drifted towards Tyler again. What if Vincent was right? God, she hoped he was.

The dropship steward woke Jia up when they landed on Vega. She was given a cab to her apartment in the Capital. She remembered that she had brought nothing except her the things she kept in her locker at school, which was the only reason she and her schoolmates was had been sent to school. The clerk told her that her things were sent to her apartment before-hand and she took the long complimentary ride in the cab.

The apartment building was nice and clean. Everyone seemed to be formal and professional and she grew self-conscious of her short-sleeved shirt and jeans. All of Vega was like this; rich and clean. Her 'apartment' was a hotel in Vraxian standards. Evacuation wasn't so bad in her opinion. The bell-hop welcomed her and showed her to her room. Her room had a decent view of the city, it was air-conditioned and carpeted. The bell-hop showed her the empty luggage bags and told her that they had taken the liberty of unpacking for her. She thanked him and tipped him.

When he left, she dropped her bag and counted the money which her parents had given her. She checked the shelves that were full of her clothing. The side desk had her laptop plugged and ready for her. Toothpaste, toothbrush, soap and shampoo were in the bathroom. She wanted to thank her parents of their thoughtfulness.

She went out to the balcony to catch some fresh air. She looked up and saw a formation of wraiths on a training flight, high above the clouds, the army base in the distance could be seen drilling their men for the upcoming battles that might (though not likely) reach Vega. She smiled again and went back inside. She decided to look at how the bed was. As she did so she noticed the stuffed dog that Tyler had given to her for her birthday so long ago hiding behind the pillows. She hugged it and lay on the bed. She read the note on its collar once more. The Korean characters that were roughly written by Tyler's unfamiliar hand were written in that way so that her western classmates would not be able to understand what it said and tease Jia. It was thoughtful of Tyler to do so. She read what they said for the thousandth time since she had first seen it.

_I need to know if your love is there_

_When I sleep you're everywhere_

_You are the definition of sweet_

_Please Jia, make my life complete_

She smiled again at the simple and roughly written poem. She rested her head on the pillow and curled up on her side. As she did so, she saw a something leaning on the wall. She realized it was an electric guitar. It was solid black and old fashioned; six stringed, and manual tuners, probably made in the 22nd century. It looked very familiar to her. She walked over to it and studied it. Tied to one of the strange silver tuners was a note.

Bah! All these notes! Jia was getting irritated at notes. To top it all off, the letters were tiny; she had to lean in close to read them. It had five simple words on them:

_You can still complete me_

It hit her like a shell of a siege tank. This was Tyler's guitar! The same one he used to sing her that song in front of the Flight Academy on Vraxia! She gasped.

"Ahn-yong-ha-se-yo" said a voice behind her. She turned around slowly and gaped open-mouthed at Tyler who was standing in the doorway looking at her. He was alive! Oh God, she wanted nothing but to be with him at that moment.

She dashed up to him at the speed of sound and jumped into his arms. She inserted her tongue in his mouth with such ferocity, even Tyler was taken off-guard. She yearned for him. She knew she loved him and wanted to show it. Tyler must have something to say. He probably wanted to tell her what happened about the _Tamerlane_, probably to apologize for his rude entrance, or probably to tell her how much he missed her. But she didn't care. Whatever it was that Tyler had to say had to fuck itself and wait.

Her heart leaped as he was drawn into the passion and began kissing her back. This was it! No more self-conscious and timid Jia, not right now….not tonight. She had no second thoughts about her decision. She hooked Tyler around the back and dragged him on top of her as she lay on the bed, without breaking their kiss. Tyler hesitated and she bit his lip to urge him to continue. Tyler sensed Jia's seriousness and let himself be dragged under the sheets.

* * *

Ok, I know I said this would be up by next week, but I got it done anyway. Chapter four definitely up next week. Please review fellas.

-NaytchX


	4. Chapter 4

Ahh, exams are almost OVER! Last exam day tomorrow so I'm finished studying so I'll work on my fourth chappie before bed.

Lonerboi: Thanks for the reviews, bro. I appreciate them. Keep it up dude, and you won't be such a loner no more : -)

Disclaimer: Plot and Chars equals mine. Blizzard stuff equals Blizzard stuff. Capuche?

Chapter 4: A Foe Who Doesn't Play Fair

Dr. Linaw glided over his surgical team silently. Watching their every move, he would tactfully swoop in to fill any gap in the team's coverage that would open along the carcass they were working on. He noticed that the team had neglected to keep the creature's right wing secure and he did his duty to correct them. He stepped back again, making sure not to disturb his fellow surgeons who were deep in concentration.

The creature they were studying was one of the many that had been slain in the hangars of the _Tamerlane_. It was grotesque and disgusting. Its body was an unattractive orange arch, two green slits for eyes and two stubby wings that protruded ungracefully from its sides. Its body was scarred in holes from where the marines had shot it. The rest of its body was naturally scaly, and it formed a protective carapace around the creature, much like the carapace of a cockroach.

However, from what the team had discovered, the creature was extremely sophisticated. Every one of its body systems was uncanny in their efficiency. If a man had designed its circulatory system, he or she would be regarded as an artist. The creature's respiratory system was outrageously simplistic, yet had the respiratory capability ten times that of humans. The only thing that had puzzled Dr. Linaw was that the creature did not have a central nervous system. It made him curious and he wanted to find out as much as he could about this remarkable subject of evolution.

"Doctor, I've got something here." Said Jenkins "It's hard and tough…it's loose, too." He continued.

"Another bullet?" asked Dr Linaw

"….Probably...No, it's too….weird" he said as he groped with his forceps to feel the object.

"Okay, let's get it outta there." instructed the doctor.

Jenkins hand clamped down on the forceps and slowly dragged out the object. The rest of the team dropped what they were doing and held the corpse still. It came loose slowly. Jenkins hand suddenly jerked for a moment, and then the object smoothly came out.

It was green and slimy. It looked like either a drop of mucous, or a giant worm. Jenkins scowled at it under his mask before securing it inside a jar on the table nearby.

"You think the bastard was pregnant?" joked one of the surgeons and the rest chuckled.

"Come to think of it, it's possible" said another one, as they went back to work.

Behind the back of the surgical team the slimy green object began to shake violently. It shook so much that the jar containing shattered and the doctors swung around at the disturbance. Before anyone of them could say a word the object sprang up into the air. Its slimy texture vanished and it was replaced by a trail of green gas that was left in the object's wake. It hurled right at Jenkins and in the blink of an eye, Jenkins' torso had disappeared. After a moment, blood began running from the hole in his chest and he dropped to the floor. The object flew right through him and continued for a few more feet.

The green gas was apparently acidic.

But, that wasn't the end of it. The object had gone right through Jenkins, and came around 180 degrees straight for a screaming nurse. Blood decorated the walls as it cut through the unfortunate woman much less cleaner than it did with Jenkins. The surgeons and the rest of the nurses scrambled for the door as the object came around one final time.

Dr Linaw saw the object pick a much more effective target than Jenkins or the nurse; it was headed straight for the nitrogen tanks. The spark of the impact mixed with the pressurized gas erupted into an inferno that engulfed the entire floor.

Erika was leaning on the taffrail of the inner elevated hangar ledge. She heard shouts and sirens come from outside and assumed that the team that was studying the creature had finally messed up. She rolled her eyes and went back to daydreaming.

She told the Admiral that the thing was dangerous, but even Erika wanted them to study the creature, out of curiosity, even if it meant the death of a few surgeons. Now there were no more creatures to study; the rest of the corpses were horribly deformed when they were shot. Nonetheless, it had been quite a long time since the _Tamerlane_ had escaped from imminent destruction. Soon the good doctors would have hundreds more specimens for them to study once the creatures would attack the garrison.

The grease monkeys called up to her. They were going to seal the hangar in order to refuel the parked craft inside. Erika neatly slid down the ladder as the grease monkeys prepped their vespene tanks and strapped on their masks. She walked outside and saw the MP's rushing into the burning science facility to get survivors and the numerous SCV's that were toiling to put out the fire.

She looked around and saw a wheelchair being pushed up a shuttle nearby. Someone called towards her from there and she jogged towards it. As she neared, she recognized it was Colonel Walker - a.k.a. Spirit One. She saluted at the gruff officer who was sitting in the wheelchair. He waved it off and extended his hand. Erika slowly lowered her saluting hand and shook hands with him. Even as the Colonel sat, without legs, on the uncomfortable wheelchair, he still managed to hold himself with dignity.

"Congratulations, Captain." He told her, totally ignoring the hustle and bustle going on in the burning science facility

"Thank you, sir" she replied

"Where's your brother?" he asked

"He's on Vega…visiting someone."

"Well, we can't have that. You two need to get your new squadron up and running ASAP."

"Yes, sir. I'll be lining up the rookies for inspection tonight. The Admiral has approved a free flight for half an hour after inspection, and then when the Major gets back we can start whipping them into shape."

"Does the Major know that he's a Major?"

"Probably not, sir."

"All for the better. Can you handle your plans for the greens tonight?"

"I'm sure of it, sir." She said, silently resenting the Colonel's doubt in her abilities.

The Colonel looked up at the stars. He sneered and clenched his fists.

"I wish I could be up there fighting with you guys." He said, more to himself than to Erika. "It's not a good taste for me to retire with only six years and four kills." He continued.

"It's better than _dieing_ with six years and four kills, sir, which is what most of these greens will be doing." She said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"With all this hardware the Directorate is bringing?" he said "It'll be the critters' turn to be gangbanged and vulched." He said. "We have every single battle-ready-cruiser in the UED outin the Plyrinth sector. That'd add up to hundreds of thousands of wraiths." He said, reassuringly. "How many critters were attacking the _Tamerlane_? A good five hundred, maybe? Add a few more, in case they have friends and your looking at ten thousand of them at most…" he grew confident "It'll be a turkey shoot, Captain. You saw how crappy their aim was."

Erika remained silent.

"Well Captain, the life of a cripple awaits me… I'll see you up there sometime?" he said after a while "Remember, you owe me a one-on-one."

"Looking forward to it, sir." She said.

"Tell the 'great Aries' that I'm still better than him, since he got his tail blown off like a baby seal!" he yelled to her as he was pushed up the ramp.

Erika sighed. She pitied her Colonel. He'd commanded the Spirit's competently in the Tamerlane Engagement. It was a shame that he should lose his legs because of a magnetic receiver thatbuckled when he landed, causing his wraith tumble all over the hangar deck.

Out of the twelve pilots in Spirit squadron only four survived, including Tyler, Erika, and The Colonel. Out of the one hundred and eight wraiths on the _Tamerlane_ only twenty one survived.

Tyler and Erika had been promoted and given command of a newly formed squadron called Atlas squadron, which had not one pilot in the roster that had more than three weeks active duty. The other survivor of Spirit squad, whose name escaped Erika, was now the new CO of the Spirits, which was given a full compliment of recruits.

It was hard for Erika to be assigned to a new squadron; the Atlas squadron's colors were red and blue wings, with a silver nose, silver tailfins, and black ventral wing. Tyler had an easy time since he was just given a new wraith, since his was lost. But Erika had to paint her wraith all over again with the new colors, all alone too.

However, there was one moment when she had painted her wraith that she had enjoyed. After she had coated the wings and body, all that was left was her name below the canopy, and finally the threeyellow lightning blots that symbolized that she had three kills under her name. She had painted those bolts with care and pride.

She had made sure that the grease monkeys had painted Tyler's three lightning bolts on his wraith as well. However, she still thought that it was bullshit that they only got three kills in the Tamerlane Engagement. She had been sure she had nailed at least six. It wasn't her fault that three of those six couldn't be confirmed.

The pilots of Atlas squadron were at attention in front of their wraiths now. They were rigid at parade rest and their flight helmets were secure under their arms. Erika walked with as much dignity her body would allow. The silver bars that were pinned on her shoulder were pretty heavy at this moment, but she knew she would get used to it. She walked in front of the first pilot.

"First Sergeant Jacob 'Marker' Chevskey, ma'am!" he yelled

"Senior Airman Ben 'Plummet' McLaren, ma'am!" came the yell from the second pilot

"Senior Airman Charlie 'Twitchy' Garner, ma'am!" said the third one…

_Hey, he's kind of cute_ thought Erika.

She laughed at herself in her mind. She was a Captain of the UED….A fifteen year old Captain that had a crush on a pilot under her command, to be more specific. She shook it off and memorized the remaining names of the Atlas pilots.

She had a squadron of four flights and sixteen pilots; a major, one captain, a 1st lieutenant, two first sergeants, five master sergeants and the rest were airmen. This was a pretty inexperienced bunch of them. Their hair was still shaved in the form that was regulation in the academy. But now she had to introduce herself.

"My name is Captain Erika 'Eris' Munroe. I am fifteen years old and I am a terran with a British tongue. Now if any of you greens have a problem with that, speak up now." She said. No one moved.

Apparently they had heard of her deeds in the Tamerlane Engagement. Maybe they had heard that she was the blood relative of the record setting Tyler 'Aries' Munroe, who was a legend in the academy. Either way, they respected her enough to keep their actions in check.

"Good. Now, as XO of the squadron, we will be working directly with each other, so in order for our squadron to be the best God damn squad in the UED we will have to get along….. First of all, I want you to know that I'm a huge badass…." she paused a moment. The pilots shifted nervously, fearing immanent dress-down coming from the Captain.

"…so I'm sure we'll get along fine." She said, followed by silent relief from the pilots

"I like horror flicks, hard rock, chestnuts, pizza, anything that's made from fried potatoes, the color black, stupid people, sheep, extremely spicy meat, cold showers, palm trees, long-eared bunnies, Xiao-Xiao, SCV's, Bruce Lee parodies, Kit-Kats and Bing Bangs…find out the rest for yourselves." She said this long narration while the pilots could be seen smirking and even chuckling now that they knew their Captain wasn't a tightly strung bitch.

"I'll find out the things you like when we have time, but for now I'd like to add one thing to the list of things I like." She said, and the pilot's attention grew. "Gentlemen, I hereby announce to you; I like to fly... Now, do you people share the same view with me?" she asked. The pilots yelled their 'Yes Ma'am!' in enthusiastic unison.

"Then prove it." She said and turned to her wraith.

Ah, that was good. Her first dress-down was a success. The pilots now held her in high regard. Her confidence grew, and she allowed a smirk to play along her face at her flaunting display of coolness in the face of sixteen greens.

She climbed up and strapped herself in the canopy. In ten seconds all systems were go. However, the rest of Atlas's were still getting their mainframe online. She sighed and plugged in her flight helmet to her mainframe and her HUD appeared on her visor instantly. It was extremely dreadful to watch the greens start their wraiths. In the event of an order to scramble, Atlas squad would be vulched for sure.

The pilots finally got their thrusters online and Erika radioed for permission to taxi. She led the procession of wraiths slowly down to the launch platform. Thankfully, the pilots knew how to handle their craft in the cramped space of the hangar and were floating smartly in formation. They finally reached the launch pad and Erika took position in front as the rest of them lined up behind her by two's.

"Atlas squadron, requesting permission to take off." She said to Flight Control.

"Roger that, Atlas. Standby for hook-up." replied Flight Control.

The squadron of wraiths suddenly stopped teetering on their pivoting thrusters and stood still as a rock. The magnets of the sides of the launch bay were activated now, holding the wraiths suspended in the air. Everyone set their throttle to full and from outside, their thrusters, which were once facing directly downward, were now pivoting upwards. Flames shot from the thrusters and a heat blur was now visible as the thrusters were now facing directly aft of each wraith. Thousands of pounds of thrust were now urging them forward, but the magnets that lined the hangar bay refused to let them budge.

Erika flashed her wingtip lights to signal Flight Control the 'OK'. The magnets deactivated instantly. Sir Isaac Newton touched them with his law once more as the wraith's built up potential energy made them burn through the launch bay at mind numbing speed. Erika struggled to keep her eyes open as 7G's were laid down upon her chest. She definitely preferred flying in the zero-g environment of open space, instead of this.

The squadron whizzed through the air at mach five; in a matter of minutes they were hundreds of miles away from the airbase. She looked around at the urban landscape of Vraxia; the place where she and Tyler had struggled to survive in those harsh streets. Soon those streets could be burning with battle in a few days time. Now, it was her duty to make sure that the pilots behind her would not burn along with it.

"Atlas squadron, RTB immediately." came a call from Erika's intercom. It took a while for Erika to realize what had been needed of her.

"What? We've only been out her for ten minutes!" she yelled back.

"Captain, the Admiral has ordered immediate RTB of your squadron. It's a direct order and you will comply."

Erika choked her flight stick in disgust. What could they possibly need Atlas squadron at the base for? She ordered the squadron on a return course and reluctantly swung around nose-on to the airbase with them.

As they neared, they could see all kinds of commotion along the base. The thousands of wraiths stationed there were buzzing towards the fleets of battlecruisers that had descended from space and were now receiving them. The dropships were already beginning their procedure to exit the atmosphere and the ones on the ground were seen being loaded up with rows upon rows of infantry.

"What's going on, Atlas Two?" asked Atlas Three. The chatter between the Atlases' grew either silent, or nervous. The pilots were scared now.

They were going to war.

* * *

Meanwhile, in an apartment on Vega.

Tyler and Jia were lying on the bed. Both of them had barely any modesty left as they were overwhelmed with their teenage hormones. Jia was tugging desperately at Tyler's lower garment, in order to bring out the forbidden fruit that her parents had banned from her until she had gotten older.

Tyler knew he couldn't stay here with Jia. He needed to get back to Vraxia ASAP, as per his orders. But, he was only a human teenager – a teenager in bed with his girlfriend. And in those kinds of situations, one can easily say 'screw orders' without blinking.

He was rubbing her insides and was causing her to moan. She kept trying desperately to get Tyler's pants off and return the pleasure he was giving to her. His fingers that were slithering inside her pants felt _soo _good. Jia wasn't going to let him get away with controlling her like this. She would see to it that he got some in return, but she still enjoyed his touch, nonetheless.

At last! His belt came loose and she jammed her hand inside. Tyler broke the kiss to writhe in pleasure. Jia took the opportunity to pop a birth-control pill in her mouth and she hoped it didn't affect the way she tasted. Tyler was forced to succumb to her and let her have control of him. He made his hands toil to remove the rest of his pants in preparation for what was coming, and Jia's one free hand aided in that enthusiastically, while the other still made Tyler whimper under her. It would not be long now until they would do the sin…

A knock came from the door. It came again…. And again.

Tyler unhappily wretched himself from Jia's grasp as the knock came four more times. Tyler fastened his belt back on again while Jia eyed him with disappointment. As she did so more doubts flooded her mind.

Tyler had gone from her so quickly. Yes, there was regret in doing it, but he had still gone. Jia had not wanted him to go; she wanted to make love, and to have him for just one night. Did this mean Tyler didn't like her? No, it couldn't be that. No man would force himself to go that far in bed with a girl he didn't like. Besides, Jia could tell by the way he was holding her and kissing her, that Tyler had been as turned on as she was.

After that, Jia realized that it was simply immaterial to Tyler whether or not he had sex with Jia. Tyler definitely wouldn't mind doing it, but was happy enough simply talking to her, yet Jia had wanted him so badly. What did this mean? Did Jia simply like Tyler because he looked good? Was she hiding behind an illusion of love to cloud the truth?

Jia was a fifteen year old girl; every girl (or boy) that age goes through a phase of longing for the opposite gender. Was Jia having the same experience? Tyler was matured enough through the streets to know what love was. But did Jia? Perhaps she just saw him in the same way as the countless other girls saw their boyfriends; handsome and delicious, with only an illusion of a love that either, went only one way, or not at all.

Tyler looked back at her apologetically for having to cut their activity short for a moment. The look in his eyes made her heart leap and she was reassured of her feelings towards him. She was still disappointed, however. She had never felt this sort of pleasure before and didn't want to force it back inside her again.

_Please hurry_ she thought as he seemed to take forever in opening the door.

Tyler opened the door an inch, just enough for him and his visitor to see each other eye to eye.

"What is it?" he spoke to the bell-hop through the small slit he made through the doorway.

"S-s-sorry for d-d-disturbing you, sir, b-b-but you see…." The bell-hop was stuttering as he spoke.

Tyler grew impatient; he just wanted to be rid of this jerk so he could go back to his previous business. What could this inferior possibly say to catch Tyler's attention at this moment?

Tyler looked back at Jia as the bell-hop continued to stutter nervously. Her impatience was as prominent in her eyes as was a bear in a herd of sheep. He was impatient too; he had things to do…

"Just bloody say it!" hissed Tyler and the bell-hop gulped in fear.

"Vega is under attack." Replied the bell-hop quietly.


	5. Chapter 5

I want to expand on Tyler and Jia here, so it's a long chapter. Some reviews would also be nice. I'm depressed IRL so I could use some cheering up...

Disclaimer: Plot and Chars equals mine. Blizzard stuff equals Blizzard stuff.

Chapter 5: Sacrifices

Joey Linaw's face was contorted in rage and disbelief. Admiral Ivanovsky stood still, above Joey with stony faced emotion. Joey glared at the Admiral, his eyes burning an imaginary hole right through him.

"Well, Doctor…" said the Admiral, his face remaining emotionless.

"You're _sick_" hissed Joey in return. The Admiral smirked.

"Doctor…" he repeated, mockingly.

"You _bastards…_" he said with emphasis on the last word ", you knew about these – these…_things_…. all along?"

"Yes, doctor. Like I told you before; the zerg have been in the classified records for the past two years"

"And you still didn't even warn us – _me?_ You let four of the best surgical operators in the Directorate _burn_ in that room…for a _cover up_!" he said, still in apparent disbelief.

"Yes, doctor. It was unfortunate, but keep in mind that if they were 'the best surgical operators in the Directorate', then they would've used some tack so as not to perish" said the Admiral, still unmoved.

"Don't you dare mock me, Admiral; those were good men in that room. You locked us in a room with a time bomb when you told us it was an apple pie. How deranged can you people be, in not even considering to warn us of the danger?"

"The creature was dead… even you could agree that there was little chance of danger"

"You're _sick"_ he repeated, once more.

The Admiral scanned Joey, who was sitting on a chair below him. This doctor was apparently still recovering from the shock of the incident. There would be little reasoning with him for now.

From Joey's point of view, he despised the Directorate. They had kept an enemy, an enemy far more powerful than any Earth has ever faced, secret. For whatever reason it might be, in Joey's eyes the Directorate had just condemned millions of lives to death because of their decision.

"Just tell me why…" said Joey

"Why what? Why we kept the citizens of the Directorate from galaxy-wide panic? Why we kept the economy running, without any burden of knowing that there was some kind of 'evil monster' out there going to eat them? Would you like to know why we kept the livelihood of the millions of innocent lives preserved, instead of ruined by the thought of the coming Apocalypse?" he replied, confidently.

"Preserved? Would you call the hundreds of families who lost their sons and daughters on the _Tamerlane_ preserved? How about the 'millions of innocent lives'; are you talking about the people on Vega? The people who were caught in the orbital facilities when the zerg came? What about the trillions of people on the surface? The one's who were caught in the streets, holding shopping bags, instead of guns or evacuation tickets? Are you talking about them?"

"Vega was not caught unprepared. We -" he was cut off

"Ha! Look around you Admiral! The UED fleets are here! They were waiting for an enemy that's just come through the back door! Now they're scrambling back to Vega. How many cruisers were assigned as Vega's defense fleet, five of them? Now, if your commanders had been warned of the nature of the zerg, we could very well be on the offensive right now!"

"You are just a doctor, doctor. You're not a military Admiral like I am, and you can't comprehend the consequences of your theories"

"You know it's a fact that the Directorate could have been well prepared for the zerg, if only they had been warned before-hand!"

"Admiral Gerard DuGalle, Commander of the UED Expeditionary Task Force, General of the Tactical Surveillance and Intelligence Division, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, and leader of more than fifteen million enlisted men and women, was forced to turn tail and run when the zerg chased him out of the Koprulu Sector"

"So what are you saying?" said the doctor, who was calming down "That there's no hope?"

"I'm saying that there was nothing else we could do" said the Admiral, who was winning in his task to subdue the doctor.

"I'll let a patient die of tooth decay before I believe that"

"Doctor…" said the Admiral, containing his impatience "We are in a war. In every war decisions must be made, and in every decision, whether good or bad, people get killed. Now, if the body count is more than necessary, then we regret it, but we can't change it" the doctor was looking at the Admiral directly eye to eye now.

"The Directorate will pull through, like always. But now, doctor, I need you to tell me whatever it is you found out about the zerg in your autopsy."

* * *

Tyler stared, open mouthed at the bell-hop. The bell-hop was sweaty and pale. Outside the room, more bell-hops could be seen knocking on the doors of the other rooms.

Did Tyler hear this bell-hop right? Did Vega, a system that was fifty sectors away from Vraxia, just come under attack?

"Sir…" said the bell-hop, nervously.

"There's a military dropship outside going to take everyone to the evacuation site" he said, hoping that Tyler could still hear him.

Fortunately, at the word 'military', Tyler's senses had come back.

"No, wait…." He said.

Vega was under attack. SOP stated that any soldier on leave must report to the nearest military facility, should the planet be attacked. However, technically Tyler wasn't on leave; he was supposed to be on Vraxia. It was just kindness that the Admiral had granted him some R and R, because technically Tyler was entitled to it, since he had been shot down.

"Where's the nearest airbase?" he asked the bell-hop. The bell-hop frowned at the question.

"Sir, we there's a military dropship outside that will take us to the evacuation site" said the bell-hop, slowly, so that Tyler might understand.

Tyler cursed at himself for not being clear.

"I'm enlisted" he told him "Where's the nearest airbase?"

"Fort Pollux, sir; about a hundred fifty miles east" replied the bell-hop, who was good at adapting to the ever-changing circumstances.

A hundred and fifty miles would mean about five minutes in a wraith, probably thirty to an hour in a civilian vehicle. Tyler cursed again silently, but he had no alternative.

"Do you have a car I can use?"

"The dropship outside will definitely head back to Fort Pollux once everyone is on the evacuation site"

"I can't wait that long" said Tyler, considering the possibility "I need a bloody car"

The bell-hop bit his lower lip for a while, and then came to a decision.

"Take mine sir" he said, while pulling out a swipe card from his pocket. "It's in the garage level, sir; the green asp."

"Thanks" said Tyler, taking the swipe card.

"What about Ms Tsong?"

Tyler had nearly forgotten about Jia. What was he going to do with her? He considered letting her be evacuated in the dropship outside…

"How is Vega under attack, exactly?"

"Sir?" asked the bell-hop, who didn't understand.

"Where's the enemy?" said Tyler, irritated

"The defense fleet is fighting them in orbit, sir."

Evacuation was too risky. The convoy of shuttles would have to beat out of the atmosphere and make a dash away from the planet, before they could engage their hyperdrive. He knew how the creatures flew; they could easily swoop in and intercept the transports, should the defense fleet leave a hole in their screen. Tyler wasn't going to risk losing Jia because of a stupid shuttle pilot who didn't know how to jink.

He could bring her with him. He could leave her under the care of whoever General was in command of Pollux, while he went off in his wraith and got more lightning bolts under his name. It was acceptable in the rules and regulations for civilians to seek shelter in military bases, should their companion be a soldier. Unfortunately, that also had risks. Should the fleet lose the space battle, the army bases would be the first to come under siege. He didn't want to lose Jia because of a stupid fleet commander that didn't know how to command.

He weighed the two possibilities in his head.

"She'll be safer with me" he told the bell-hop.

"You're sure, sir?"

"I bloody hope so…" the bell-hop raised his eyebrows in concern.

"Alright, sir…" he said, at last "Good luck, sir." Tyler nodded and the bell-hop turned to warn the other tenants in the building.

Tyler closed the door behind him and turned to Jia. She had apparently overheard the conversation between the two, because she was already putting her shirt back on. When her head came through the collar her eyes met with Tyler's. She smiled weakly and shrugged. They were both disappointed.

Two minutes ago, they were having the time of their lives. Now war and duty came before romance once more; and Tyler wanted to rip off his gold bar and wings for it. Tyler started to button his uniform again, while Jia stuffed whatever clothes she could in her bag. Soon they were both finished and Tyler stuffed his guitar back in its case.

"Ready?" he asked her, and she nodded. She looked extremely disappointed, but there was nothing Tyler could do.

He led her silently into the garage level. The bell-hop's green car was shiny and luxurious. Tyler guessed that its cruise speed was around 200 mph; he could get to Pollux in about half an hour or so.

Jia chose to look out the window as Tyler powered the anti-grav. Tyler felt the disappointment in Jia at that moment. It was like the days of torture after he had given her that dog. Now, she wasn't looking at him again. He knew she didn't mean anything by it, but he still felt crestfallen, nonetheless.

"I'm sorry about this, Jia…" said Tyler, wishing that she would look up.

"Tye…" was all Jia could say.

Tyler decided to let her have her silent time. He revved the car's main power online and drifted off into the highway. The hum of the anti-grav, mixed with the soothing air conditioner and air freshener made Jia feel comfortable. Tyler still preferred the seductive purr of a wraith, accompanied by the roar of 6.5 g's than this, however.

The sky was not wearing the usual deep-blue colors it used to; the Vega star was shining glowing amber on the surface. That signaled that there was unusual cloud cover tonight; Tyler made a note of that. But one part of the sky was burning red. Just visible through the Tyler's window was hundreds of streaking red bolts of laser from the fighting battlecruisers. The red laser bolts were mixed with orange balls, which signified the destruction of a wraith, and finally, the most miraculous of all was the Yamato Blast. Every now and then a battlecruiser would try its luck at vaporizing a clump of zerg with its gigantic cannon.

Jia was watching the display of lights in the sky. Her face was unreadable, as usual. Deep down, she was scared for Tyler. He was going to go out there and risk his life again. She would go between watching the extravaganza of battle overhead, and the focusing figure of Tyler, who was riding the car like a wild bull – a wild bull going at 250 mph.

"Tye…" she said, softly. Tyler eased off the gas as his attention shifted to what Jia was going to say.

"Whatever kept you alive in the _Tamerlane_…" she continued

"Do it again"

Tyler got slightly annoyed by her concern.

"Jia, it was _you_ that kept me going" he said, as if it didn't matter.

"What?"

"I'm never going to break your heart by getting killed" he actually took a moment to look at her "_Ever"_

Jia pursed her lips and looked away again. Her fatigue was finally getting to her; her patience was already thin.

"Shi-bal!" she swore, in Korean "Tyler, how can I ever love you as much as you love me?"

Now she was getting emotional, Tyler hated it when she would do that.

"Don't doubt yourself, Jia; you're better than that! Honestly, if you didn't love me, then would you have…" he paused "…you know" She laughed.

"I enjoyed that" she said, grinning "You know how I like to be touched…"

"But were you really willing to _do_ it?" he asked, before he could stop himself. Jia's smile faded and she looked down. Tyler wanted to smack himself.

"I guess… I guess… just love you" she said, without looking up.

Tyler's chest swelled at her statement. Jia was so sweet, and so beautiful; a girl as pure as her deserved more than this. She deserved a normal life; a life that involved graduating from school, going out on parties with hundreds of friends, having tons of boyfriends, falling in love at the right age, and finally she deserved a normal husband, with a normal family. Instead, she was in the middle of a war, with all her friends' light-years away, driving head-first into possible death, without any other relationship in her life, except for this sixteen year old terran boy, who made a life out of risking his life, every day.

She wasn't always this emotional. She was usually bright and cheerful, if not simply indifferent. Once Tyler and Jia had started going out, it would even sometimes be Jia who would break the silences. She would always be in a good mood, always ready to laugh at a joke, and always willing to brighten the day with her wonderful smile. Now it was clear that her experiences were changing her; a sentence as open as that would never escape Jia's mouth lightly. Tyler loathed the hellish creatures that were tearing Jia's life apart.

They would always laugh, always smile, always be consumed in an unexplainable bliss when they were walking hand in hand. They would always cheer up Denzer's Diner with their bright, record setting, six hour conversations. They would talk about their lives; civilian and military. They would discuss their views on music; Tyler was a guitarist while Jia played the flute. Other than that, they would talk about _anything_, from their favorite star system to even Jia teaching Tyler how to speak Korean. They would always get along, always be equal, unlike Jia's many male classmates who had to suck up and play servant to their girlfriends.

Erika would tease that Tyler was cheating on his Flight exams since he would spend so little time studying and so much time with Jia. In truth, Tyler was usually helping Jia study. He wasn't very good at all this advanced math and literature that they taught in high school, since his education was limited to the library books. But he knew a thing or two about physics, being a pilot. Jia's parents would be suspicious that the two of them were doing _things_ in Jia's room, but Jia's rising grades in physics reassured them.

Now it was all over. Her parents and brother were on Vraxia, armed with gauss rifles. Her school was perhaps a military depot now. And Jia was no longer cheerful and bright. Her indifferent look was going overtime. Her head was hanging in anguish and stress. She wasn't even conscious enough to notice the hustle and bustle going on with all the dropships and APC's that were herding the civilians to the evacuation sites. Tyler couldn't let the girl he loved – any girl as sweet as Jia fall apart like this. He must do _something_. The idea came to Tyler like an unwanted injection through the posterior. He couldn't do _that_. No way. But, Tyler knew that if Jia were to have any chance of happiness in life, he _must_ do it.

"Jia…" said Tyler, his heart thumping madly

"I can't do this…" he continued. Jia looked at him quizzically.

"Tye?" she said, and Tyler stopped the car so as to look her in the face; this was more important than getting to the airbase.

"I can't…" his lip was trembling. Jia's brows came together in concern. She was being the sweet and considerate girl that Tyler adored, and the 'sweet and considerate' look that Jia had on helped Tyler express himself.

"We have to stop..."

"Stop what? The car?" she said, still completely unawares. Tyler weighed his options again, but now, despite the lightning fast mind he had developed on the streets and in the skies, he still had to deal with hesitation after hesitation. Could he do it? Could he deal with it? Moreover, could Jia deal with it?

But that wasn't the issue; the issue was not whether she could handle Tyler's decision; that was immaterial at this point. The question was; could Jia handle her present situation? Obviously not, and Tyler couldn't live with himself if that was the case.

Tyler was caught in her eyes again. She forced herself out of her distress so as to express her concern for him. Her eyes were so soothing; they were looking at him with not only concern, but with interest, with patience. _Ugh!_ It was killing him. The eternal question of true love kept ripping Tyler's mind in half. Did she love him? It was always that question. Tyler hated it! He wanted it to stop! But he reminded himself that it was neither Jia's nor Tyler's fault. It was those beasts up in orbit. They were doing this to them, and if this way of life continued, both Jia's and Tyler's life would be ruined. He had to end it now.

"Stop what?" she repeated. Tyler gulped down his stomach, which was creeping up his esophagus, and he choked down the heartbeat that was smothering him. He toiled to control himself, so as to only utter one word…

"_Us_" he said, weakly.

Jia's face stood still for a second, then her mind clicked and she gasped. Jia's insides rushed into her throat and the blood drained from her face. Did she hear him right? No, it couldn't be. Did Tyler just dump her? Why should Tyler want to end it? They were so good together. Nothing could ever come between them. Why was he doing this? He loved her. Jia knew he loved her! What was he doing? No way was he breaking their love! No way!

Her mouth was trembling, and her chest began to expand and contract at a dangerous speed. Her snowy white skin was white as a ghost. Her eyebrows were arched going upwards towards the middle while her eyes widened in horror. Tyler wanted to punch himself for making her like this. Jia looked into his face for _some_ kind of answer. Suddenly it came to her. A while ago, Tyler's face was constantly turning to the overhead battle and back to Jia's hanging head Jia realized that he must be concerned about the effect of Tyler's career on her life. He was concerned about her ability to deal with all the madness of war going on around her…

Was that all! Jia couldn't believe it! She could handle herself in these situations. She was confident in herself! But then… she realized that she was _not_ able to handle herself. She remembered that it was her who had voiced her concern for Tyler's well-being in the upcoming battle. It was her who let her fatigue show through her mask of indifference.

Oh my God! It was her that caused him to come to his decision! Why did she have to blab about her pointless concern! Why did her indifferent look falter! Why couldn't she keep cool, like so many times before, and prevent Tyler from realizing that she was in distress! Then Jia realized that Tyler's suggestion bore logic. It was true that this war would rip their lives apart. The best course of action _was_ to break up… It wasn't possible; Tyler wanted to break up and he was right.

But Jia couldn't stand by and let this go; she couldn't let it go!

"Tye!" she said, warningly.

"Jia…" he said, trying his best to be soothing.

"NO! Tyler, no!" she was backing away to the edge of her seat, as if Tyler was a monster.

"We can't do this to oursel-"

"NO!" she screamed, her fists banged on her chair

"You don't deserve me!" he yelled, looking for a way out.

"Shut up!" she screamed again "You _didn't_ say that! You _DIDN'T_ say that!" her hands were grasping her scalp in frustration.

"PLEASE! Jia! You know we _can't_ go on!" he said, getting desperate.

"NO!" she screamed again "You _promised_ you'll never hurt me! You promised!" tears were running down her face now. Tyler was barely holding up as well. He didn't want this, he never wanted this. But it was for Jia's own good that he leave her.

"The dog!" she said, pointing to her bag "You said you'll always be there for me!" her voice was cracking now as she cried and screamed.

"Bloody hell… Not like this Jia…" whispered Tyler, unable to speak clearly with his insides swirling like a whirlpool.

"Ahn-ee-oh! Ahn-ee-oh!" she repeated over and over again as she was bent over, her tears dripping onto her skirt, and her hands threatening to rip out her hair. Tyler reached for her hands to get them to stop tugging at her hair. Upon contact she rose up and smacked his wrist.

"Ano shipal, geseki!" she cursed at him. Tyler retracted his hand in surprise at her reproach.

"Che song ham nida" he was apologizing. But she wouldn't hear anything of him. Her face was still buried in her arms, which were resting on the dashboard.

_Crikey…_

He had just done what he had thought impossible; he had broken her heart. He watched her, helpless, as she sobbed and wept onto her hands. He couldn't take it anymore. Tears streamed down his face as well. He looked away, keeping silent, trying to block out the sounds of crying from Jia. The battle was still raging overhead. He didn't want to go anymore, he just wanted to cry as openly as Jia was, but he couldn't do that, he was too hardened to allow that.

They sat in the car in silence for a long time. The only audible sounds were Jia's sobs. Tyler remained stationary, watching the dazzling lasers overhead as tears dropped from his cheeks as well.

The last tear fell from Jia's face. She looked up, her breath still stuttering and incoherent. Her eyes were red and her hair was tangled and knotted. She sniffed and looked at Tyler. He was looking away from her, out the window towards the fight. His cheek that was still visible was shining with tears.

"Tyler…" she whispered. Tyler sucked in his despair and looked at her. His eyes were red as well. He was having a much harder time than Jia. He looked on the verge of death and Jia wished she didn't have to force him to speak…but she mustn't stop fighting.

"Please…don't…" she whispered again. Tyler looked down and shook his head.

"I don't care about…_this…_" she said, hinting at his uniform "It can work out…" she knew it was a lie.

"Rubbish, Jia" he replied. Jia stayed silent for a while.

"_Please_…" she was begging him.

"You deserve a good life, Jia"

"Without you? You've been my whole life, Tye…"

"You're going to go wonkers if you keep talking like that, Jia" he said, although he couldn't look at her straight in the face anymore.

"Tyler…_Please…_"

"This is how you'll feel everyday if you stay with me…" that sentence kept Jia silent for a longer time.

"_Tyler_…" she said it in a commanding way, telling him to listen up.

"Look into my eyes and tell me if I care" Tyler was taken aback by her determination. Jia was not letting up easy. He did as he was told. Her eyes were cold and serious now, not a hint of humor, or shine, or emotion, just plain cold stare that chilled Tyler's spine.

"_I love you_" her face didn't falter a nanometer when she said it. It was Tyler who buckled under the stare.

"That doesn't matter…" Tyler whispered.

"Tyler!" she yelled and Tyler looked at her again.

"Look at me with your pilot's gaze and tell me if you can ever stop loving me" she said, unwavering. Tyler looked down again and shook his head.

"That's beyond the point"

"No! You're making it beyond the point. We can get through this together" her voice was growing more confident with every word.

"And then what? It'll never be the same after all this. We'll never be happy again" he said, and Jia knew it was the truth.

"We'll never be happy if we break up" she replied

"You'll find someone else, Jia" he said, his gaze faltering again

"Tyler! I am not going to let you go!" she yelled "You can survive with your wars, but you're leaving me with nothing except your stupid dog!" Tyler looked at her again.

"What other way is there?"

"We can love each other!" she said, still refusing to give up "Tyler! I love you! You know it, and I know you love me too!" Tyler's gaze was forced lower with every word.

"I'm the luckiest girl in the world to be in love with you. I've been blessed with true love in my first relationship and I'm _not_ letting that go" she said, bringing her face closer to his. Tyler knew that she was utterly serious; he knew she would never stop. This moment was when Tyler realized the answer to the eternal question; Jia was in love with him. He knew he loved her; they were meant for each other. But he loved her too much to be as selfish as to let her stay with him. That would simply destroy the girl in Jia that Tyler loved.

"Kiss me, Tyler. I'll show you it can work out" she touched his shoulder and moved her mouth within inches of his…

"Good-bye, Jia."


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks for the loyal support Lonerboi! I wonder if everyone else's review buttons aren't working… ;-)

This should actually be two separate chapters, but I figure I might as well put them together. And also, I flyplanesIRL so I use a lot of pilot-ish terms, so if you don't understand a term I used, then just asks what it means in a review and I'll answer it.

Disclaimer: Plot and chars are mine. Blizzard stuff is theirs.

Chapter 6: Good Intentions, Bad Results

"Hell and back, boys! Into hell and back with your hairy arses!" yelled Erika through the intercom.

"Boo-Yah!" was the reply from a few Atlas'

Thousands of wraiths were hurtling down like a tidal wave upon the waiting wall of zerg that was in front of them. The zerg were screeching war cries in the void of space. The wraith's engines were roaring in reply. Behind the wraiths were thousands of battlecruisers; while behind the zerg were the thousands of overlords, and guardians. In between the two was Vega, an elegant blue sphere, usually surrounded by luxurious orbital resorts. Now it was being orbited by the debris of the defense fleet. The surface was scorched in the northern hemisphere with the flames of battle.

The force of wraiths and mutalisks closed within weapons range and the space burned with green and yellow. The superior speed of the wraiths made them whiz through the cloud of zerg and hurtle directly towards the defenseless guardians and overlords. The battlecruisers that took up the rear were ripping through the ranks of the mutalisks and in turn they received volley after volley of gluv wurm to bounce on their hulls.

Erika and the Atlas' were approaching the defenseless zerg support units at breakneck speed. She let loose with a hail of slugs and bolts and was rewarded with the sight of a guardian being ripped in half. The once nervous Atlas' were now crooning in joy as they received their kills. The overlords were making mad dashes to the surface, in order to land their forces and escape the onslaught of the wraiths.

A pack of mutalisks descended out of hyperspace and engaged the wraiths. Erika broke off her attack pass as mutalisks were saddling up on her six. She wished Tyler was here; she had no wingman. Atlas Three thankfully scattered her pursuers and chased one down. Erika turned towards him and chose a target. It was utter hell trying to keep up in twisty turney fights with these zerg who were much more superior in maneuvering.

At last, Erika's visor lit up as red boxes were drawn around the outline of every zerg in their view. Things would be much easier now; the fleet's science vessel finally had its bioscanner beaming the wraith's targets for them. Erika primed her Gemini missiles and waited for the blessed tone. She kept in pursuit with her quarry through the torrent of the furball. At last the tone came and she let loose with a cry of 'fox one!' The two streaks of grey exhaust smoke streaked towards the mutalisk and turned it into a fireball.

"Splash one!" she yelled, even though no one would hear the cry through all the radio traffic already going on.

The first flight of Atlas' had stuck with her throughout her chase; she had ordered for the flight leaders to take their flights into different tasks. Her task was to cover the Valkerie fighters in their mission to intercept the overlords.

"Atlas squad, this is Longboat squad. We're beginning our attack run on the lead overlords" came a transmission through squad to squad channel so Erika might her them clearly through the maelstrom of traffic on range channel.

"Copy that, Longboat One, we have you in sight and we'll cover your butts" she replied.

The three wraiths in Atlas Flight One turned nose on, through the furball, towards the stream of valkeries that were flying smartly in formation to attack the overlords. Various flights from other squadrons also joined formation beside the valkeries and tore a path for them through the screen of mutalisks.

"Atlas Two, we have a flight of critters looking at us from starboard!" said Longboat One.

"Copy, moving to intercept"

Erika directed the flight to screen the Longboats from the starboard and sure enough multiple mutalisks were seen, clearly heading straight for them.

"Nose to nose!" she yelled to her wingmen.

The mutalisks took no interest in the wraiths, but instead sent their wurms flying straight for the valkeries. Atlas Two, Three and Four replied with their volley of missiles and ripped the offending mutalisks to pieces.

"Splash two and three!" yelled Atlas Three.

"There's more heading for the Longboats; ten o clock!" said Atlas four.

The wraiths instantly veered to the left and began their missile track on the mutalisks. The mutalisks had a head start and let loose a torrent of wurms towards the valkeries. The valkeries veered off to evade and some were reduced to smoldering fireballs. At last the reply came from Atlas Flight One and the mutalisks were either destroyed or scattered.

"Atlas Flight Two, rejoin formation now, we need more pilots for the cover!" ordered Erika.

"Roger that" came the reply from Atlas Five.

The wraiths from the other squads in front continued to plow the road for the valkeries as the ones off to the side constantly scrambled to intercept any offending pockets of zerg that threatened the valkeries. The overlords were nearing the atmosphere now, they couldn't be allowed to drop off their forces; the UED forces on the ground were overwhelmed as it was.

Back in the main body of the UED fleet, the battlecruiser's guns were firing non-stop. The captains would hold their ships smartly in formation as the pressured helmsmen would struggle to keep their gigantic lumbering ships in place throughout the rain of the wurms on the hull. Inside the protective shell of the battlecruiser's guns were thousands of dropships, each overflowing with stimmed up infantry and fully loaded machines of war. They were the cavalry; the much needed relief forces for the overwhelmed forces on the surface. But the zerg overlords had a head start on them; the valkeries needed to take them out so that the dropships could land their troops first.

"Atlas squad, we're in range to party, get you planes out of the line of fire" said Longboat One and Erika ordered for her pilots to get away from the valkeries' front quarter.

The flood of rockets that the valkeries let loose was dazzling. Instantly there were millions of rockets that illuminated the space around them with their streaks of blue plasma. The overlords were left utterly helpless. The overlords and any unfortunate mutalisks that lay in the path of the missiles were instantly atomized. The pilots cried out in victory in range and squad channel alike. Even Erika joined in the cheering. The only downside of the whole thing was that most likely the valkerie pilots would only get half of the kills they deserved, due to the difficulty of having to confirm all the kills that they really got.

"Would 'ya look at that! That just made my day! Thanks for the support, little friends. We'll be fine from here" said Longboat One.

Erika gave the order for a free-for-all since their task was complete. Instantly, the eager Atlas pilots divided into two's (pilot and wingman) and flew off to the furball and earn their lightning bolts. Erika grinned; she had no wingman, so she could have all the kills to herself. She decided to zip back to the fleet of battlecruisers and pick off a few zerg there. She primed her missiles and gunned the throttle. She ripped through the dance of lasers and mutalisks and smoothly let loose her missiles. A mutalisk cried out in pain as it was ripped in half.

As she landed on another ones six and fired burst after burst of slugs at it, she noticed that the dropships were now glowing in orange as they entered the atmosphere. She grew worried; Tyler was headed to Vega to visit Jia. They were down there somewhere and she hoped they were alright. She shook it off and laughed; Tyler would always be alright. She would bet her life that at this moment Tyler was in some wraith and getting kill after kill in the atmosphere. The thought reassured her and she promptly blew off the wing of the mutalisk she was chasing.

* * *

Erika was half-right; in the atmosphere, Tyler was in a wraith, however, he was far from _alright_. He was kicking up dust as he pushed his wraith to the limit ten feet above ground. All around him, green gluv wurms were whizzing past him in attempts to bring him down. He was being chased by ten mutalisks and he was on the deck and running for his life. All around him, the reserve pilots on Fort Pollux were dropping like flies. As they buzzed past the garrisons of the ground forces, the idle marines at the rear would take pot shots at the zerg in attempts to help the lone wraith, to no avail, of course.

The missile turrets could be seen in the distance. Tyler prayed that they were not offline. Another fifteen wurms that tickled his ventral wing forced him out of his pointless prayer and got him back on concentrating on staying alive. He was nearing the turrets by the second, he could make it! As he neared he noticed something else on the ground. It was a sea of violet; they were the ground forces of the zerg. They instantly turned and peppered Tyler's path with acidic spikes and forced him to veer off course. His left wing lit up in holes as some spikes managed to hit him in his starboard break turn.

The pursuing mutalisks jumped on the event of Tyler's turn and lead him in his turn and instantly gained tons of ground on him. His damaged wing made his wraith even slower and another hail of wurms went flying towards him. It was no use now; those wurms would inevitably come into contact with his wraith if he kept running. He must turn and fight to the death!

He came around nose on with the waiting mutalisks and they grinned their horrible grins in reply. He vowed he'd wipe those stupid smiles off their faces soon enough. At that thought he hesitated. He was thinking about Jia again! He forced his mind to focus, but he was too late, his chance at a head on shot had passed and he desperately tugged his stick to evade the wurms.

The mutalisks turned on a dime and came at him once more. Five on them climbed above him so as to mock him. He cursed at himself. He couldn't get Jia out of his head. She was like a parasite, draining the life force out him by the second, and would ultimately cause him to fall to the ground in a fireball. He shook his head violently to get him to focus. He must climb and rope the zerg that were level with him.

He pulled up gently to bring his wraith ninety degrees nose up and not waste too much speed in doing so. The mutalisks stupidly followed him in the climb. They obviously didn't have any clue to what Air Combat Tactics was. They mindlessly pursued him and the five that were above him simply circled, not knowing that at least three of their comrades would die.

Tyler loved atmospheric dogfights; he loved using the all mighty gravity to his advantage. Soon, all the air had escaped the wings of the mutalisks and they lost their much needed lift. They stalled and leveled off as they struggled not to plummet to the ground. Tyler had timed the event of his own stall just right. He nosed down at his stall and, sure enough, the struggling mutalisks were helpless before his guns. He let loose with a burst of slugs and two of them fell pray. As he yawed his craft to draw a solution on his next victim, his mind drifted to the memory of the time he had demonstrated this move to Jia.

It was torture! He had missed his chance to kill another one due to his distraction! He _must_ get her out of his mind if he was to survive. The five mutalisks that were taunting him from above had swooped down to chase him as their surviving comrades were regaining their speed. Tyler strained to think of something to get them off his tail. They wouldn't fall for the rope anymore, and he was running out of time. Instantly he remembered that they were diving on him. He must switch tack and play the turn fighter while the mutalisks would be forced to use unfamiliar energy tactics.

He brought his wraith into a distorted barrel-roll and the mutalisks, still completely ignorant of ACM, stupidly overshot and flew passed him, before turning around again. They were extremely stupid; they had the perfect opportunity to regain altitude and speed after they overshot and play cherry-pick with Tyler. Instead they had blown it all away and turned straight nose on to him.

Ah, there was nothing like the power of the human mind. These creatures could not comprehend the sheer concept of Air Combat. Tyler smirked as he realized that his task would be easier than he thought. His opponents had given up their energy advantage. They were letting Tyler step into the realm of energy fighter, instead of forcing him to remain the turn fighter, where his wraith would pose no match against the far more maneuverable mutalisks.

Tyler evaded the head on pass of the mutalisks and climbed above them, his thrusters burning white hot flames behind him. Again, the mutalisks tried to follow. Tyler was stumped; didn't they learn their lesson after being roped once? He took the opportunity to kill a few more out as they stalled again. After he had blown passed them, he turned to regain his altitude once more. They had finally learned their lesson; instead of following Tyler directly in his climb, they climbed gradually, parallel to his course.

As Tyler rested on his perch above his opponents his mind drifted again. He lost track of what he was doing as he was reminded of Jia once more; the hotel where they had stayed last night was visible. He could see cannons and heavy machine guns poking out of the windows which indicated that the building was garrisoned. He remembered the night when he was almost going to be _inside_ Jia in one of those rooms.

Damn it! It happened again! Memories of Jia had cost him precious seconds! The mutalisks on his tail had traversed half the distance to Tyler's altitude. He banged his fist on his helmet in frustration. He could have easily downed every one of them as they were climbing up to him. Now, they were too near, and it was too risky to descend to try and pick a few off now. He decided he could drag them to the hotel and hope that a marine would spot him and order the guns to scatter the mutalisks.

He waited a bit more, circling the mutalisks in order to mock them into pursuit. Finally they dashed towards him and he gunned the throttle towards the hotel. Soon the windows lit up as the guns fired a shower of bullets towards the mutalisks. They were excellent shots; five of the six remaining mutalisks were torn to shreds. Tyler veered around at the mutalisk that survived and was now running away. He closed on target and armed his burst laser; he wanted to give the marines in the building a light show. The mutalisk turned its head around to look him in the face. Its eyes were looking at him with evil hatred, no fear or emotion as death approached it. It was just the same way Jia's eyes had looked when he left her under the care of the General in command of Pollux….

Not again! Thankfully his mind hadn't wandered too far; he still had ample time to draw a firing solution, but he was only fifty yards from immenent collision with the mutalisk. He yawed his craft with lightning fast reflexes and his crosshairs were filled with the orange figure of the mutalisk. He plugged with the trigger at the last second and the blast had ripped the mutalisk apart right before Tyler had collided with it.

He let out a sigh of relief. He powered down his laser to recharge it and flew for a fly-bye of the hotel. He performed an aileron roll and flashed his wingtip lights in thanks to the marines inside. He saw a flare shoot out of the roof in acknowledgement.

Tyler berated himself for having his mind wander so many times in the engagement. He was having a hard time focusing ever since their fight in the car. He hated not having control of himself. He knew he must find away to get rid of the distractions, whether he loved her or not.

He wondered what he was going to do now. The district he was supposed to cover had already been overrun (obviously) and his detachment of reserve pilots from Pollux were all dead. He decided to RTB to Pollux; he was in dire need to refuel and repair anyway. He flew low to the ground, so as to avoid the furball at high altitude. He could see the dropships entering the atmosphere from his cockpit. They were headed to the main HQ on Vega, which was under heavy attack last time Tyler had checked. Some of the dropships would definitely be on the way to the lesser bases, like Pollux, to give reinforcements and to pick up the wounded. Jia would probably one of the people to be moved out.

If the dropships could get into the atmosphere it meant that the space battle was faring well. Jia would be safe on her way out. Tyler sighed; he would never see her again. He wondered if he should even wish her a good-bye and good luck….

* * *

Jia was looking at nothing except the insides of her hands. She wasn't making a sound, nor moving an inch. She was sitting silent and alone in the mess hall with her face in her hands. Outside, the wraiths that had come from the space battle were landing. It had fared well; the zerg space forces were decimated while the UED had lost only fifteen cruisers, two hundred valkeries, and six hundred wraiths. A few squadrons were to land here and rearm while the commanders would decide whether they were needed in the relief operation for HQ.

Jia could hear the approaching footsteps of the tired pilots coming to the mess hall. She didn't want them to come in, she wanted to be alone, but to go back to the solitude of her quarters meant moving, and she didn't want to that either.

"It was McLaren and Hobes that went down, ma'am" said a voice after the hiss of the double doors opening had passed.

"A shame…" said a familiar voice of a girl.

"Get the rest of the squad fed and rested. Make sure that the wraiths are repaired and rearmed in the next hour. Have Chevskey know that he's the new flight lead for Flight Two and tell him to get the report done" said the girl again.

"Yes, ma'am" said the other and footsteps were heard indicating he had left.

Jia didn't bother to look up as the sounds of the girl getting her food were heard. The clattering of plates and glasses were echoes in the distance. Jia absent-mindedly wondered where the rest of the pilots were. This girl was obviously the CO of one squadron, and the pilots were obviously still at debriefing, or in the enlisted men's mess hall. Jia had been kindly granted permission to stay in the officer's mess, since the General had sensed her sadness.

Suddenly the footsteps stopped abruptly.

"Jia?" said the voice of the girl. Jia didn't want to look up and didn't. She heard the girl take a seat opposite of her.

"Crikey! It is you!" said the voice again. Jia recognized who it was; there were only two people she knew that had a British Accent like that.

"Ahn-nyong, Erika" she said, weakly, and without looking up.

"What's wrong, Jia?" she asked, concerned. Jia didn't want to use her vocal chords anymore.

"…Where's Tyler?" said Erika at length. Jia shrugged.

Erika remained silent. She knew something was seriously wrong. She had hoped for a rest after the space battle, since she had been ordered to report to Pollux, but instead she had another thing to worry about and she knew that prying Jia about it would not help. She, instead, ate her meal silently.

"Ma'am" said Kimble, the lone lieutenant of Atlas squad, once he had approached and saluted Erika after she had finished her meal.

"The wraith's are fueled and loaded. Sergeant Chevskey is writing his report now" he said

"Orders from command?" she asked

"Yes, ma'am; we're to wait for the return of the Major and then remain stationed in here and await the _Clarkson_ for more orders" he reported.

"Where did the General send the Major?" she asked

"Major Munroe was sent along with the reserve pilots here to try and give air cover to the 556th in the northern district"

"Very good. Thank you, Lieutenant" she said. Kimble saluted and left.

Erika looked back at Jia, who still hadn't moved an inch throughout the whole time. Erika was done eating and had no where to go in the Fort; she was forced to remain seated awkwardly opposite of Jia.

"Jia…" she said; she couldn't take the awkwardness any more.

"Tyler broke up with me" she said flatly through her hands, without looking up. It took Erika a whole five seconds to realize what Jia had said.

"What?" she said, dumfounded. Jia didn't move.

"Bloody hell!" she said, realizing the truth.

"This is 'Aries' requesting permission to land" said Tyler; since he had no official designation he used his callsign.

"Permission granted, 'Aries'" replied Flight Control.

Tyler guided his wraith absent-mindedly back in the hangar. His wraith jolted to a stop as the hangar magnets held him in place. His thrusters pivoted downward to allow him to hover. He flashed his wingtip lights and the magnets deactivated. He idly glided to the vacant pen in the hangar. He hopped out and landed lightly on his feet once the mechanical arms had secured his wraith on the hangar bulkhead.

He saw that there were wraiths populating the hangar now. A squadron from the space battle must have landed here for rearming. He caught sight of a lieutenant who was standing at attention by the entrance to the hangar. As Tyler approached, the lieutenant saluted.

"Atlas squadron, reporting, Major!" said the lieutenant.

Tyler only registered half of what the lieutenant said. Atlas squadron was the squadron he had been assigned to, but what major was this person talking about? Tyler spun around in fear that a Major was probably behind Tyler. Suddenly the familiar face of Erika pushed her way in front of the lieutenant.

"You're dismissed, Lieutenant" she said and turned to Tyler.

The lieutenant left and Tyler was left in a state of confusion.

"What Major?" he said at last.

"You major" she said, impatiently "We've been promoted" she said, even more frustrated.

"Jolly good…" he said at length, unaware of what was pestering his sister. She still stood there, in front of him, arms crossed, and she was wearing a stare that could kill a man.

"Bloody hell! What is it?" he said, getting impatient himself.

"Don't be cheeky with me, bro! You've the one with the nerve to break up with Jia!" she yelled back. Tyler looked down in frustration and shame.

"What the hell were you thinking? She's torn apart because of you!" she scolded.

"What else could I do? You think she's fine falling in love with a bloody idiot like me who risks his life everyday?" he yelled back in defiance.

"What's wrong with you! She already has fallen in love!"

"Exactly why I had to end it! She's going to go mental if she stays with me"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"How would you feel if the man _you_ loved kept rushing head first into battle every day and night?" that kept Erika silent for a while.

"You think it was easy for me?" he continued "I loved her too, you know!"

"_Loved_?" she said, her face twisted in disgust "You're not yanking my chain, bro. You _still_ love her! Don't be a noble arse!"

"Listen, 'sis; I 'aint in the bloody mood, ok?"

"No, it's not okay. You're killing her!"

"What makes you think it'll be any different if we didn't break it up, eh?"

"Because then she'll be with you! You've gone barmy, I say!"

"Blast it! Erika, this can't work out!"

"What make you so sure?"

"She's fifteen years old, damn it! She has her whole life waiting for her. She _will_ find someone else"

"And where the hell will she find someone? Her school is botched, her home is botched - her blooming life is botched! You're all that's left and you're cocking it up!"

"This war can't last forever; it'll end and she can on with her life. The life she _deserves_." He explained

"She deserves _you_" she answered back "Give yourself some bloody credit! You're a handsome, talented and strong chap. _I'd_ fancy you if you weren't my brother" she told him. Tyler looked away.

"Who's she 'gonna find that can compete with you?" she asked him "Okay, fine; so let's say she finds some Korean bloke and goes the down the isle. You think she'll ever forget you, her first love? Do you think that she won't lie awake at night, wondering where you are and what you're doing? You honestly think that she can forget about the sort of an affair like the one you two had?" Erika looked at him for an answer.

"Okay, fine; she won't, I can admit that. But have you ever thought of what she'll go through if she stays with me? She'll be ripped apart. She'll still stay awake at night and wonder if I'm still alive and shit. At least if she's with someone else she'll have someone to comfort her on those lonely nights. There are tons of men out there who can be more caring and stuff than me"

"You're fooling yourself. Jia is a strong girl; you've said it yourself. She can handle herself as long as she knows that she's yours"

"Are you sure of that? What happens if that's not true? I can't watch her fall apart because of me"

"She's falling apart because of you _right now_"

That was all Tyler could stand. He lost his composure and turned his back on his sister. The world seemed to be against his decision, but it was the only way. The alternative would be selfish on Tyler's part, and it would never last in the long run. Tyler just wanted all of it to end. He wished he never saw Jia standing in the courtyard that day. He wished that she had never seen him play his guitar in front of the Flight Academy. He wished he had died on the _Tamerlane_, and he wished that his heart would just stop _pestering_ him.

Erika bit her lip in regret that she had done this to her brother. In all her life she had never seen Tyler take the coward's way out from an argument. She knew that it was torture for him to have to discuss a topic as touchy as that, but she must keep him from destroying himself. Erika had seen how the two of them clicked together. Erika had never thought possible that a relationship like the one Tyler and Jia shared could exist at such an early age, but for a year and a half she had witnessed it right in front of her. And now her brother was throwing that away, for some noble rubbish.

"I'm sorry, bro" she said, softly "I know this hurts, but I just can't let you make the biggest mistake you'll ever make in your life"

"I _know_ it's a bloody mistake and I _know_ that I'll never be the same, but it's Jia that I'm worried about"

"Tyler, she's a strong girl"

"If this is the way she reacts to a break up, then how will she react if I get downed?" he asked.

Erika had to think for a few seconds to respond to that.

"When you first saw her on Vega… she thought you were dead; more than half the _Tamerlane's_ crew had bit it. So with that in mind, tell me, _honestly_, was she in sixes and sevens about it in her apartment?"

That sentence made Tyler gulp.

"I didn't think so" said Erika after Tyler remained silent "She wasn't tearing herself up, was she? She was sitting fine and composed in her apartment. Why? Because her last memory of you was a good one, and if you leave her like this, she'll always remember you as the person who turned down her heart"

"We've been through thick and thin, bro. You've _never_ gone as messed up as you are right now. Doesn't that tell you something?"

"You still can't say that she won't be broken-hearted if I get downed out there" replied Tyler.

"Yes, she will be broken-hearted. But, bro, take in the big picture here; you're not the only person in the service that has a civilian sweetheart. There are thousands of men out there that worry about how their wives will react when the day comes that a bullet comes towards them with their name on it. And still they keep it together, because they know that the possibility of them coming home is what keeps their wives sane"

"Rubbish, Erika. Remember that those wives also break down into a million tears when the mail-man comes with a letter addressed to them from the army"

"That's the way it goes, bro. That's unavoidable, and yes Jia will break down into a million tears if you die, but she'll always know that you died loving her. If you do _this_" she said, spreading her arms to indicate his actions "then she'll spend the rest of her life longing for you"

"She'll find someone else" repeated Tyler

"Damn it, we're going in circles!" said Erika in frustration.

"Listen, Tye; you're making a mistake, one that will haunt you for the rest of your life. Deep in your heart you know that. I know you care for her and don't want to hurt her, but trust me when I say that she'll be better off if she was in your arms. Trust me on that; I'm a girl also, so I know how she feels. Your intentions are good, I know, but, bro, this isn't going to help you _or_ Jia…" she said, before walking away, leaving her sulking brother alone in the hangar.

Erika fell onto the chair beside Jia, who was still sitting, face in hands, in the mess hall. Since she saw closer to Jia than she did before, she realized that Jia's eyes were red from tears. She could also feel the atmosphere around Jia had a chilling aura about it. She wondered how Tyler could do this.

"Jia…" she said, cautiously shaking her shoulder.

Jia finally emerged from under her hands and looked at her. Her eyes were extremely swollen and her nose was very red. The skin on her cheeks was chaffed and her pale skin left red marks where her hands were holding her face.

"Oh my God…" said Erika, examining her friend.

"What is it!" said Jia in irritation; she wanted to get back to sulking as soon as possible. Her voice was very hoarse; she must have a huge frog in her throat to make that sound.

"I've spoken to Tyler…" she said, soothingly "I know he's making a mistake about this" Jia pursed her lips "Give me time; I can get him to come around soon enough" Jia gulped so as to speak clearly.

"Will you?" she asked

"I'm not going to let him do this to neither you, nor himself" she said.

"Please… promise me you'll get him back to me" she begged.

"I promise, Jia" Jia's eyes watered.

"Cross my heart and hope to die…" continued Erika

"Thank you…" said Jia "I can't go on without him…" she said.

It was pitiful for Erika to watch her friend act so pathetic. She brushed Jia's hair away from her face and hugged her.

"Let's get you cleaned up…" she said.


	7. Chapter 7

Lonerboi: Thanks for all the praise, dude! I'm getting smothered in thumbs ups LOL Anyway 'splash #' is what a pilot says whenever he gets a kill. Example:

Tom Cruise chases down a Mig and fires a missile

Tom Cruise: Fox One!

Mig explodes

Tom Cruise: Splash One!

Tommy kills another Mig

Tom Cruise: Splash Two!

Get it? Oh, and 'Fox #' is used whenever a pilot fires a seeking missile. Oh yeah, sometimes, pilots just say 'Splash!' dunno why, though… I think it's for when they kill a ground target, but not sure.

Disclaimer: Plot and Chars belong to me! Starcraft stuff doesn't…

Chapter 7: Side Effects

They were in the holopic theatre, again - the one on Vraxia, where his first kiss had been given to him. Here, they were kissing again. The smoothness of her tongue was luscious, and the sweetness of her saliva was enchanting. Her breath was like a succulent mist upon his cheek. Their arms were around each other and they staggered down onto the nearby chair.

She was so fine, so slender; it was as if she was made of silk. He was caressing her thin body. It wasn't as curvaceous as it should, she was thin and rather straight, but it felt so delightful to embrace. A moan escaped her lips and he stroked her fine hair. She breathed faster as the passion of the kiss grew. He needed to stop before she would get overwhelmed. He lessened the pressure of the kiss and slowly moved back. Her eyes were still closed and her lips were still groping for a mouth that wasn't there; she was still trying to kiss him.

He touched her cheek to try and get her to open her eyes, but she was still trying to kiss someone that wasn't there. This was odd. He watched her curiously and was, to his shame, a bit put-off by her behavior. She looked strange from his point of view; continuing to pursue something that wasn't there. He had broken the kiss so that she would not be _overdosed_, in a manner speaking.

Why hadn't she snapped out of it yet? He gently brushed her cheek again, in an attempt to get her back to reality. He wanted her to wake up and open her eyes, but she still moved around and kissed the air. He was out of options. It was disgusting for him to watch her act this way. He moved in closer, since he had no other option. He opened his mouth and gave her the kiss that she was asking for.

This time he didn't let up, he tangled his tongue in her mouth and forgot about being gentle. She was smiling while she kissed him back, and she squirmed when his hands went for her private areas. They continued to kiss, not caring about tender in their actions. They didn't let up for a second. It was what she wanted, and she rewarded him with all the passion and love she had for giving it to her. They only parted when the kiss was complete.

This time she opened her shining eyes, and lighted the room with her wonderful smile. He smiled back at her, and now they were truly happy…

"Jia…" said Tyler, softly.

* * *

Tyler jumped out of bed and banged his head on the bottom of the top bunk. He yelped and writhed in pain. He looked at his hands that were clasping his forehead and saw a trickle of blood on them. He cursed and tried to get out of bed, and as he did so he bumped into something – no, someone. His vision was still obscure so he couldn't tell who it was.

"Sorry, mate" said Erika.

"Get me some bloody ice, will 'ya?" he replied. Erika walked to the nearby replicator as Tyler nursed his forehead.

"Must have been _some_ dream, bro" she said, as she handed him the ice pack.

"You don't wanna know…"

"Jia again?"

"Damn it! Is it that obvious?"

"You talk in your sleep" she told him. He groaned and rolled over back on the bed.

"See; even your sub-conscious knows that you miss her" she said.

"Yeah, well what does my sub-conscious know?" Erika laughed at that statement.

"It knows how to give you five hundred kills in the flight simulator, duh!" she said, jokingly.

"And that's all it should know. What business does it have moving into my love life, eh?"

"That's what it's paid to do" she said, with a chuckle.

Tyler curled up in bed as his head throbbed some more. He wondered if his head would ever get some rest. For three days it had to put up with memories of Jia, arguments with Erika (about Jia) and now this. Erika had finally decided to tone down her aggressiveness in pestering Tyler about Jia yesterday, once she realized that Tyler was being deeply hurt by them. Nonetheless, his head still hurt.

"Why'd you wake me up, anyway?" he asked.

"We're launching in an hour for the brass' operation" as she sat beside the bunk.

"_Ugh,_ don't they have enough bloody squadrons?"

"The _Clarkson_ lost half of it's squadrons in the space battle, we're just filling their spot until after the operation"

"But it's not our fault that they had incompetent pilots" he sneered. Erika looked at him thoughtfully.

"You don't want to go because you'll leave Jia…" she teased. Another _ugh_ was given by Tyler.

"Alright, bro. Just keep thinking about this, okay?" she said, when Tyler sulked again.

"I'll get the squad ready. Be in the hangar in thirty" she said, while patting Tyler on the shoulder once more and leaving.

Tyler got out of bed and grudgingly suited up in his flight jacket. His dream was still fresh in his mind. Maybe he was wrong in his decision, and maybe Erika and Jia had been right all along. But what could he do now? Every second that Jia was not with him, he doubted himself some more. He cleared his mind of Jia as he prepared for the coming mission.

The briefing was predictable and standard. The 'elite' squadrons of wraiths would swoop in first and clear a path for the dropships. Then, once the green light is given, the battlecruisers would move in while being screened by the other squads and bombard the zerg outposts while the dropships would go through the secure path cleared by the first squads and drop the ground troops that would reinforce the HQ. Tyler found the only interesting part when the good general was informing the pilots of new information about the zerg.

"We've mostly discovered stuff about new zerg ground critters; not anything you flyboys need to know about. Just stay away from the spike shooters and you'll be fine" he said, while Tyler rolled his eyes.

It was night time when the Atlas' were flying in a wedge formation in front of the dropships. They were low and hugging the urban jungle that was now defiled with the purple creep; the signature of the zerg's filth. If you looked at Vega from space the entire northern hemisphere was purple, and so were a couple of other planets in Directorate space. The zerg had not only struck here, they were striking everywhere. The Directorate was forced to evacuate all its citizens to the inner rim worlds, so as to slacken the already tightly strung defense fleets.

"Attention all escort; you've reached the failsafe. Everyone get to your designated positions and load up" instructed mission control.

Tyler directed his squadron to move in between the flights of dropships and they hovered in place. The Atlas', the dropships, and the various other squads waited patiently for the call to move out while the forward squads cleared the way. Tyler grew bored easily; the fatigue from his personal life was taking a drastic toll on his flying ability. He wondered if he would be able to stay focused and come out of the battle alive. He grew more worried as he realized that, since he was now a major, he was responsible for the lives of sixteen pilots (fourteen when you deduct the casualties of the space battle)

The sound of the go was like an echo in the distance. He barely felt any feeling towards the battle – he barely felt anything at all. He tried to shake himself to consciousness, but all it did was make his head hurt some more. As they flew head first into a huge furball Tyler grew worried. He couldn't get his focus and he knew the results wouldn't be good.

"Eris, you read?" he said, tuning a private channel with Erika; when pilots wanted to address each other personally and not by designation, they had to use callsigns, since saying real names on a military channel was taboo.

"Copy, Aries, what's up?" she replied, also tuning a private channel.

"I can't get myself focused"

"Huh?"

"I'm not thinking straight" he explained.

"Oh God… How bad is it?"

"I can barely understand my HUD"

"Now… of all times?"

"I can't help it…"

"I bloody told you that your break-up with Ji - _her_ would do this!" she scolded.

"Blast! I don't need a lecture!"

"Alright, fine… just concentrate on staying alive – I'll keep the squad safe" she said.

"Bloody hell… I'm sorry about this, Eris…"

"Just fly as you normally do…"

"Roger…" was all he could say.

They were nearing the HQ now, and sure enough they could see the flames of battle up ahead. There would thousands of zerg charging up the HQ's defense walls. The buildings in the base were burning as they were bombarded by the guardians. The hydralisks were raining spikes that would decapitate anyone that had their head out too high.

But still, the Directorate forces held their ground. The siege tanks were tirelessly firing and reloading in a monotonous system of labor. The goliaths were lined up and providing the marines with much needed cover along the trenches. The overlords were being shredded to pieces by the missile turrets as they made suicide runs to try and drop their forces behind the defense walls.

The wraiths that had gone ahead were already furballing with the mutalisks at low altitude. The battlecruisers were lumbering forward to move into position where they would begin their high altitude bombardment. Tyler shook himself to focus; a pocket of mutalisks were flying nose to nose with the force of dropships. He struggled to focus his mind into aiming. He fired off a burst and missed. Wurms and tracers mixed for a moment and then generated fireballs at each side.

Tyler yawed hard to get another snapshot on one of the mutalisks. He fired and missed again, though it _was_ a hard shot. The wraiths tried desperately to spin back around before the mutalisks got to the dropships. They primed their missiles as the science vessel got its bioscanner running. The missiles chased down the horde of zerg that were bounding towards the helpless dropships.

The lead dropships erupted in flames as the surviving mutalisks still managed to blunt the tip. Then the wraiths showed their superiority in speed to the mutalisks and ripped through the tightly clumped horde, lasers blazing. Soon the path was clear for the dropships. The escorting wraiths dove down to join the furball below as the dropships began to land.

The marines launched themselves out of the ramps and hit the ground running. Most of them were mowed down by spikes, but the rest replied with their own volley of bullets. The marines who had been in the siege from the beginning got a moment to breath, before being forced back into hell by their commanders. The battlecruisers tore a gap in the steady stream of zerg reinforcements by their relentless bombardment. The zerg that were laying siege to the base were beginning to thin out.

The goliaths took a step forward and the marines stimmed up and followed. With one final devastating attack run that decimated the forward ranks of zerg from volunteer squadron of wraiths, the ground troops rushed forward. Firebats lead the way out the gate and marines retook the defense walls. The firebats were cut to shreds, but then rose up and replied with a raging inferno.

Once the marines mounted the walls, the zerg were either pushed back or killed. The goliaths marched out of the gates and lined themselves in front of the walls and rained 20mm death upon the zerg who were still fighting. Up in the sky the mutalisks were being played with. Various squadrons were now helping strafe the remaining zerg ground forces, since the furball was practically won.

It was almost too easy; once the reinforcements came,the battle was over in an hour. The remaining zerg, who were caught in between the angry marines on one side, and their burning base on the other, were promptly cut down. The zerg threat on Vega was now gone. The marines who had been stationed on HQ from the start spat on the zerg carcasses as the others cheered.

* * *

Tyler hated himself as he landed. Out of the turkey shoot he had earned himself a mere two kills, while Erika had gotten seven. That brought Tyler up to only ten kills which was a mere double ace, while Erika already had eighteen. He had also embarrassed himself in front of his squadron. He swore he'd make up for it someday, but all he wanted to do now was sulk.

He watched the tired marines file back to the barracks' to get cleaned up, while the one's who were wounded were tended to in tents that were pitched in the blood stained field. Tyler was extremely disappointed in himself. He wished he could be like the cheering marines, but he had shamed himself in front of his peers.

Erika approached him and grinned. He grinned as well, to his surprise. It was comforting, knowing that no matter what Erika would always stand by his side through thick and thin, just like when he had stuck with her on the streets of Vraxia.

She led him to his quarters on the _Clarkson_. This was a rickety old ship; it took a lot of damage to life support systems in the space battle. He slumped on to the bed while she handed him a stress pill. He gulped it down gratefully.

"You know what I'm gonna say, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I know it's 'cuz of Jia" he said, massaging his temples.

"No…" she said, he looked at her quizzically. She stuck her tongue out at him and laughed.

"I am a _triple ace_!" she said to his face. He laughed with her.

"Who's the almighty god of destruction now?" she teased.

Her playfulness cheered Tyler up. They continued teasing until a knock came from the door. Erika whispered a 'hope you feel better' to his ear, since she had to report to debriefing anyway. She opened the door for their guest and left. After that Jia stepped in the room.

"Feeling alright, Tye?" she said nervously.

"What the – what're you doing here?" he asked, not really caring about the answer.

"I was let aboard while you were at briefing" she explained. An awkward silence followed.

"Listen, Jia, I know that – "

She suddenly cut him off by pulling a party popper from her pocket and littered the room with confetti. Her cheeks glowed scarlet as she said, nervously 'Happy ten kills!' Tyler's jaw dropped in surprise. Had the shy and self-conscious Jia just do what Tyler thought she did?

"I got you a present…" she said, taking out her small backpack, while her face glowed red the whole time. She was doing what Tyler thought she was doing!

She pulled out a sculpture of an eagle from her bag. Tyler was stupefied; he was being thrown as ace's celebration, just like when he had given Jia her birthday celebration. He was entitled to one when he had gotten five lightning bolts, but that was delayed due to today's operation.

He took the eagle silently, mouth still open. It was a mean looking eagle. Its wings were folded indicating that it was diving and its claws were outstretched. He noticed that there was a piece of paper taped to one of the wings. He pulled it free and read it. Thankfully, unlike the poem he had written, this was written in English.

_You should know my love is true_

_And when you sleep, I want to be with you_

_You think of me as sweet, but now we've gone sour_

_I can never be complete if I don't see you by the hour._

His eyes watered as he read. He looked at Jia; she was sweating and was blushing very intensely, just the way he looked when he had given her the dog on her birthday. Now they had switched roles. She looked at him with pleading eyes. This was definitely her last attempt at getting Tyler back. Tyler's reaction to this would be final, and could never change.

She looked at him, patiently waiting for an answer. It was like his dream; Jia would always try to kiss him, even when he wasn't there, and she would only stop when he would kiss her back.

Tyler struggled as a war was fought inside him, one that was bloodier than the battle for Vega HQ. But only Tyler could decide which part of him won…

* * *

Hey 'fellas. I'm sorry if this chapter isn't as good as the rest. I'm tired and I need a break from writing. Like Tyler, I have my own Jia to occupy my mind. I'm gonna take at least a week off from writing, okay?

In the mean time, please; send me all the comments, questions, suggestions, corrections, and even flames, if you want, and anything else you have to say. I'll be sure to answer all of them when the next chapter comes up. 'Till then…

--NaytchX


	8. Chapter 8

Well, life sux. I 'aint gonna go into the details no more, but it's about girl trouble… :-P .But that's why I write these, it takes my mind off reality and, at the same time, it entertains people.

Arsenal: Thank you so much for that review. Originally this _was_ geared to be an action fic, but when stuff happened IRL, I just couldn't write good action no more, so I was kinda _forced_ (so to speak) to change the story aspect to romance. I'm glad you like it. Also, I understand the low number of reviews, since not many people visit Starcraft anymore. The really 'active' game fics seem to be going on in FF (from what I've seen). Oh yeah, this takes place a year or so after Broodwar; indicated by the conversation between the Admiral and Joey Linaw in chapter 4. Also I'm not sure, but does AU mean Alternate Universe? Umm…I don't think so. It's the normal SC universe, with terrans, zerg, and the toss (if that's what you mean). Also, the setting is in UED space; meaning it includes the Sol system, and familiar systems like Vega, Alpha Centauri, Orion, and some others I made up; like Vraxia, and Plyrinth. So UED space consists of a lot of 'sectors' usually parsecs away from each other. They travel there by use of hyperdrive.

Lonerboi: I am very sorry about chapter 7. But now, I am recharged and pumped up…

Prepare to be shocked and awed ;-)

Disclaimer: Plot and chars are mine. Starcraft stuff is Blizzards

Chapter 8: Strings Snap

"Get your fucking hands off me!" yelled Tyler.

"Stop struggling!" retorted the MP.

"Fuck you! What are you gonna do to her!" he yelled, as the MP shoved him against the wall.

"She's an intruder, sir. Now calm down!"

Tyler slipped through the grip of the MP. The MP's nose was shattered as Tyler's fist made contact. The second MP made for his tazer, but Tyler was faster. The MP slammed against the bulkhead and fell unconscious. Tyler examined the tazer; broken upon contact - bah, he didn't need the tazer. Did he need the gun? No, he wasn't going to kill for this - just maybe break some arms.

Now he had to get to Jia. Out the doorway and into the corridors. There! Two more MPs were carrying the unconscious Jia thought the corridor. Tyler ran up to them, and one of the MPs stayed behind to face him. The other MP continued towards the turbolift while his partner blocked Tyler. He examined his adversary; he was older (as usual) and had a tazer in hand.

"Just calm down, sir..." he warned.

"She didn't do anything wrong" Tyler said.

"Brass thinks otherwise"

"You know as much as I do that the Brass is messed up"

"I'm under orders"

"What are you gonna do to her?"

"Not for me to decide..."

"I 'aint gonna let them hurt her"

"I can't let you do that..."

He advanced on Tyler, tazer in hand. Tyler looked for a weapon, but found none in the deserted corridors. The tazer drew ever closer; the MP lunged towards him and Tyler jumped back. The MP raised the tazer to strike and Tyler lunged at his exposed torso. The air was rammed out of the MP and the tazer dropped to the floor. The MP stepped back and swung a fist at Tyler. Tyler head snapped back from the impact and banged against the bulkhead. Another fist was going for him, and he felt something shatter. He staggered to the floor, and the MP brought out his nightstick.

Tyler got to senses fast enough and seized the MPs arm, and drove his knee into the MPs gut. He coughed blood and reared back just in time for one of Tyler's fists to shatter his nose. The impact made him spin and Tyler advanced, just to be met with the broad end of the nightstick. The world went blurry and he grasped his head in agony. The MP seized him by the arms and slammed him against the wall. Tyler felt him go for his handcuffs and he aimed a backward kick to the groin.

He took advantage of the MP staggering back, and he spun around and threw another fist at him. As the blow connected, Tyler snatched the nightstick from the MP and swung. The MPs jaw shattered and he fell unconscious on the floor. Tyler wiped the blood from his own face and gathered himself. He secured the nightstick in his belt and dashed towards the turbolift.

The MP was watching as Tyler dashed full speed towards them. Jia was there, slumping unconscious on the wall of the turbolift. He couldn't let her fate be decided by the brass; she might be thrown in jail - at most she could even be killed! Damn; the MP had made it to the panel - the doors were going to shut. Tyler barely got halfway there by the time they sealed shut and Jia and the MP were propelled towards god knows what deck on the _Clarkson_.

Tyler assessed the situation; she would either be heading towards the Captain's ready room or the brig. Now protocol stated that intruders (which Jia was) were to be thrown into the brig until the OIC can assess the report. Now, Tyler could either go to the brig to make sure she wasn't hurt, or he could go directly to the Captain and try and persuade him to lighten the charge. Tyler took the next turbolift and zoomed towards the brig deck; he wasn't a very good negotiator.

The turbolift finally came to a halt and the doors opened. He was met by the figures of five MPs. He struggled as he might, but was overpowered by the numbers. They dragged him to the brig and threw him into the cell beside Jia's. As their grip released and he fell face first on the floor of the cell, he immediately sprang up and dashed to the opening. His body shook as the shock from the electric barrier impacted him and he was flung backwards.

The MPs watched as he tossed the nightstick, which was still in his belt, towards the barrier. The field glowed blue as it made contact and the nightstick was flung backward as well. Tyler sat there, as the MP watched, occasionally tossing the nightstick towards the field out of boredom. Soon two more MPs came in, catching Tyler's attention. They made towards the cell which was beside his, and he heard the adjacent energy field deactivate. Soon after, Tyler saw the MPs carry the unconscious Jia out of her cell.

"What're you gonna do to her?" he asked.

"Captain wants her off the ship"

"Why?"

"She's being sent to Mars, we're taking her to the shuttle bay.

"They aren't gonna hurt her?"

"I don't think so"

"Be careful with her, alright?"

"Whatever" said the MP before he walked out.

Tyler grew anxious as time passed; did they send her to Mars to be charged, or just to get her off the ship? He prayed that she would be alright. It didn't look as if the MPs thought she was going to be tried, so she would probably get the normal life she deserved on Mars. For that he felt happy for a moment - and then the Captain walked in the brig wearing an unfriendly face...

* * *

"What were you thinking, Meng-Jia!" asked Jia's father, angrily (in Korean)

"I had to do something!" she answered back.

"So you snuck into a military ship!"

"Yes, and so?"

"It's a criminal act!"

"But no one was hurt!"

"That's not the point. You can't sneak into a battlecruiser and not expect to be caught and punished!"

"But it was for Tyler…"

"That boy has brought you nothing but trouble" Jia blinked at that statement.

"That is _not_ true!"

"Shi-bal! You've still committed a _crime_! You should be thankful that they didn't throw you in jail!" At that sentence, he parked the car right in front of a diner and got out.

Jia slumped down in the back seat; to her she would rather be in jail than not be with Tyler. Her mother looked back at her from the front seat. Jia didn't know whether her mother was also angry at her or not. Jia didn't bother to look at her, so she just got out and joined her husband. After a while Jia got up as well and moved towards the diner entrance.

She wondered how Tyler was doing, since he had also been detained when the MPs busted in his quarters and arrested her. When she woke up from being sedated, Tyler was gone and she was in a shuttle headed towards Mars. She further wondered what would have happened if they didn't burst in; could he have taken her back with him? Now she would never know.

She would now never see him again. She had a new life for her, here on Mars. This was what Tyler had wanted when he broke up with her. It was weird; she was now living a normal life – yes, she didn't have a school at the moment, but that would soon change. Mars was a nice place; it was the second best planet in the Directorate to live in, it was very far from any zerg threat, and since Earth was so near, she might even be able to visit Korea for the first time in her life. But she still felt bad that she couldn't share the experience with Tyler.

The diner was small, yet busy; it would take a while before they could get something to eat. Jia picked a table and sat herself down. She watched her parents line up, and she waited. She wondered how long it would be until she was scolded. She still didn't feel any remorse for what she had done, though; she wanted to be with Tyler, and she did what she had to do. So what if she broke into a UED ship, unauthorized? There was no harm done – why did they have to separate them for that?

"Mind if I take a seat?" asked someone beside her, while indicating all the other tables were full. Jia looked up. It was a boy, and it was asked in Korean. Jia shrugged and nodded and watched the stranger take a seat.

"Thanks" he said. She nodded and examined him. He was Asian; the eyes and build accounted for that, but he was speaking Korean, so he must be that.

Being her shy self, the two of them sat in silence. The line was long so her parents were not going to return soon, and the boy grew restless.

"So…what brings you to Mars?" he asked. She shrugged. The boy struggled for something to say.

"How old are you?" he asked. Jia held up her hands, one with her index finger up and the other completely open, indicating the number fifteen.

"Cool, I'm sixteen" he said, and was greeted by a silent nod.

"Umm… you go to school?" he asked. Jia shook her head.

"How come?" he asked. Jia shrugged.

"You don't talk much, do you?" he said, getting tired of her silence. He realized it was the wrong thing to say, and hid it with a fake smile, trying to make it seem like a joke.

"So what's your name?" he asked, changing tack.

By now Jia was annoyed at him. She had given him the permission to sit on a table that wasn't his, and now he was berating her with pointless questions. She was about to use her infamous 'ignore' techniques she had used on Tyler. But then she realized that the boy was not trying to simply converse, but he was trying to flirt…although he wasn't doing a very good job.

She was taken aback by this realization. She looked at the boy; he was not _attractive_, merely adequate; straight hair, clean face, not fat, not thin, not muscular, not scrawny. No… she could tell that he couldn't substitute for Tyler. But then she realized no one could. She exhaled her thoughts of Tyler; she knew that it was over between them, and that she would have to move on. Tyler would want that of her.

But this boy was still no Tyler. He did not pull a stunt like Tyler had pulled on her birthday to get her attention; all he did was ask if he could sit down and annoy her. He did not persist on her heart despite being ignored by her, like Tyler did; it looked as if he was going to up and leave if she remained silent for a second longer. It didn't even seem he liked her for who she was; he probably just wanted to bed her and get to know her later – so unlike Tyler, who wretched himself from immanent sex simply to answer the door. She knew that this boy would not sacrifice his love for her so as to preserve her happiness; unlike Tyler who was willing to spite his heart just so that Jia would have a normal life.

She knew there would never be someone like Tyler in her life again. But she also knew Tyler would want her to forget about him and get on with her life. And she loved him enough to indulge his wish.

She folded her arms on the table and looked at the boy.

"Meng-Jia – what's yours?"

* * *

Tyler watched the Captain rant and rave through the energy field that imprisoned him. Here he was, sitting in the brig, being charged with countless violations, getting yelled at by an outraged officer, and he didn't give a shit. He knew what he'd done, and he didn't see any wrong in it. No one had been hurt except for him and Jia, (the MPs wouldn't have gotten hurt if they had not arrested her) and now he was the one being punished for it.

Tyler barely bothered to listen to the insults the Captain was giving him. He was telling Tyler that he was a disgrace to the corps, an embarrassment to the crew of the _Clarkson_, a lowly terran; blah, blah, blah. Tyler knew that the Captain was just blaming him for the reprimand given to _him_ by the Admiral. He knew that the Captain was just venting, so he didn't mind – he just swore to break the Captains arm once he was of higher rank.

At last it ended, and, with one final punch on the bulkhead, the Captain left. Tyler straitened his uniform, which had gone stiff from standing at attention for so long, and sat back down on the floor of his cell. He wondered how long it'd be before it was the Admiral's turn to yell at him. He sat there for a few more minutes before his stomach growled.

He sighed and lay down on his back. At that moment the door opened. He looked up, expecting to see the Admiral; instead he saw a face which was much more welcome. Erika stepped into the brig holding a bad of food. The MP so no danger, so he powered down the energy field to let her step in. She handed him some sandwiches. He nodded and gratefully took the sandwich she handed him. They ate in silence. He was thankful she brought peanut butter and jelly; it would never fail to cheer any boy up.

The MP led them Tyler out of the cell when they had finished, with Erika following close behind. Tyler was led through the old hallways of the _Clarkson_ towards the Admiral's ready room. As they group walked in, the MP immediately about-faced and left the room; apparently fearing the immanent outburst that were about to come from the intimidating figure of Admiral Gutierrez. The Admiral folded his arms as Tyler and Erika snapped to attention in front of his desk. Admiral Gutierrez was much composed than the Captain, so Tyler actually paid attention to what he had to say.

"Tell me that the good Captain has gone AWOL and this is all just a misunderstanding…" he said.

"It's true, sir" said Tyler. The Admiral's annoyance showed prominently on his face.

"You're saying that you and your…_girlfriend" _he said, rolling his eyes "were taken by force and by charge of espionage because she snuck into a UED battlecruiser to give you a gift?" he asked.

"Yes, sir"

"That's the biggest and stupidest head-ache I've gotten in a long while, Major"

"I can imagine, sir"

"Hmpf, so what's your take on this?"

"Well, sir – I know that she meant no harm, and that she's definitely not a spy and that the decision to send her to Mars by force was uncalled for, sir. I think that at this time, the Directorate has better things to worry about than problems like this, and that it's a waste of time for me to even be standing here, sir" relied Tyler.

"You got it half-right, Major. This is definitely a stupid problem, and a waste of time, but we can't have love-hungry teenagers coming in, unauthorized, into military battleships – it doesn't matter the intention, she still violated a major law and she got off easy, in my opinion"

"Yes, sir" was all Tyler could say.

"Now listen; you said yourself that this is a stupid problem – let's not let it happen again" he said, deep in thought "I'm stripping you of rank and command" he stated.

Erika and Tyler blinked a few dozen times before they managed to blurt out "What?" in unison.

"You've shown crappy leading abilities in yesterday's op, Major - and now this. I'm demoting you to senior airman, and putting Captain Munroe in charge of Atlas squad" he said, remorselessly

"Isn't that a bit much, sir?" said Erika.

"Maybe the _airman_…" he mocked "will learn to keep his life out of UED business while he's off active duty"

"Off active duty!"

"Yes! You should expect that from your shitty performance for the past week, Munroe! I don't care about your fucked up life, there's no time for relationships here. We did you a favor by sending that bitch to Mars. Probably you can finally get on with the only thing your good for now, which is flying, you god damned terran!" hissed Gutierrez, showing his irritation through his stony mask. Tyler reared back in resent and surprise.

"Don't talk that way about _her_…"

"Or what, _airman?_ I'll talk about anyone, anyway I want!"

"You're a godless son of a bitch and I'll see you burn…"

"What the fuck did you just say?"

"Enough!" yelled Erika "Sir, Ms Tsong didn't mean any harm, and no harm was done. Now, don't you think that pulling Tyler's rank is a bit rash?"

"Maybe, maybe not; but after what he said to me deserves a demotion any day – be thankful that you're record is too good to deserve a court-marshal!" he hissed. Erika couldn't stand any more.

"Then demote me too! You _are_ a son of a bitch and I'm not 'gonna take orders from a bloke like you!" she yelled.

"Fine, your both airmen, and off duty! Your wraiths are turning to scrap and your helmets are getting scrubbed (when demoted to airman, it was an unwritten rule that one must earn another callsign than the one already owned, thus the callsign on the flight helmet must be erased)I want your ugly asses off my fleet by midnight!" he yelled.

"Gladly!" yelled Tyler, before storming out of the room, Erika following close behind.

* * *

Tyler angrily zipped his rucksack closed. Erika was waiting by the door. He grudgingly slung the sack over his shoulder and made towards it. As he did, he saw the eagle Jia had given him sitting on a shelf. He paused, remembering the moment when she had pulled it out of her bag. He wished that he had a few more moments with her before the MPs busted in.

When the MPs came in, he had still not shown any sign of reaction to Jia's stunt. So now, she would never know if he would've accepted her back or not, and moreover, neither would he. He strained to remember if he was either going to kiss Jia or show her out the door, but the moment was gone; and so the answer to that question was gone forever.

And now, Tyler's life was gone. Gutierrez would see to it that Tyler would never get back on active duty again. Even Erika was going down with him. So now what was he going to do? Spend the rest of his life in some backwater reserve base either waiting for the assignment that would never come, or the zerg that would kill him? Yes, that was probably what he would do…

This was all a sixteen year old boy could take. In his whole life, the only things that had brought him happiness was flying and Jia, and now both of them were gone, why? Because of the Directorate. The stupid UED had been the source of all the pain in his life; they were the one's who had exiled criminal humans to the Koprulu sector, thus giving them the title of terrans, and giving Tyler a hell for a childhood, thus forcing him to join the military. They were the source of Jia's hate towards him for the months after her birthday, since UED propaganda against terrans were still in full speed. They were the one's who kept the zerg secret, and allowed Vega to be attacked, thus forcing Tyler to end his relationship with Jia. And now when he was a squad leader, they took that away from him too.

Like a guitar string that gets plucked too hard too many times, he snapped - damn it! He also remembered he lost his guitar in Fort Pollux; things just kept getting worse. Tyler's soul sunk deep, leaving nothing but a silent and distant shell behind. He walked out, emotionlessly passing Erika, and strode towards the hangar. Erika sighed; she knew this was what it would come to. Her brother was gone now, and he was taking her down with him. She didn't blame him; she just wished that she could do something.

She walked back in his quarters. One item that was in there took her interest; Jia's eagle. She didn't know why, but she felt she needed to bring it along, even if Tyler would not want to see it. She prayed someday he might, and that she had done the right thing. She just wanted to repay him for all that he did for her on Vraxia. She wanted to help keep a portion of Tyler's soul alive, and this seemed like the only thing to do. She stuffed the eagle in her rucksack and walked out the door towards the hangar.

Unknown to Erika, was that Tyler already had the picture of Jia that he saved from a fiery death in the Tamerlane Engagement, stuffed firmly in his pocket - it was true; no matter how much pain Tyler was going through now, or how much of his soul had vanished, one thing that would never die, was his love for Jia.

* * *

**_The End_**

-NaytchX


End file.
